Towards High Efficacy of Pd-Au/C Catalyst for Tetrachloromethane Hydrodechlorination

We present an efficient strategy for synthesising the PdAu catalysts with a homogeneous PdAu alloy phase for environmentally important hydrodechlorination of tetrachloromethane in the gas phase. The synthesis of carbon-supported catalysts involved two major steps: (i) incorporation of palladium and gold nanoparticles into carbon support and (ii) activation of the catalysts. The critical part of this work was to find the optimal conditions for both steps. Thus, the incorporation of the nanoparticles was carried out in two ways, by impregnation and direct redox reaction method using acetone solutions of metal precursor salts. The activation was performed either by a conventional thermal reduction in hydrogen or flash irradiation in a microwave oven. The homogeneity and structure of the PdAu alloy were found to depend on the catalyst activation method critically. In all cases, we observed better homogeneity for catalysts that were subject to microwave irradiation. Moreover, the flash microwave irradiation of prepared catalysts provided catalysts of better stability and selectivity towards the desired products (hydrocarbons) in the hydrodechlorination of tetrachloromethane as compared to the catalyst obtained by conventional thermal activation in hydrogen.

Application of silica-supported Ir and Ir-M (M = Pt, Pd, Au) catalysts for low-temperature hydrodechlorination of tetrachloromethane

Herein, it is presented a catalytic system for gas-phase hydrodechlorination of tetrachloromethane at low temperature and atmospheric pressure, using iridium supported on silica as parent catalyst. Iridium electronic configuration is suitable to catalyse the hydrodechlorination reactions, however, it has been rarely used in this reaction to date. The catalytic abilities were significantly improved when a second transition metal was added. Catalysts' stability and selectivity to the desired products (i.e. C₁-C₄ hydrocarbons) improved compared to conventional activation in hydrogen when catalysts were activated shortly with microwave irradiation. Microwave irradiation of catalysts favourably influences the homogeneity of the metallic active phase, both in terms of the size of metal crystals and the homogeneity of bimetallic systems. Addition of platinum to the 'parent' iridium catalyst improved its catalytic properties and decreased deactivation. Fresh and spent catalysts were comprehensively characterized using several techniques (BET, CO-chemisorption, XRD, XPS, electron microscopy and mass spectrometry) to determine structure-activity relationships and potential causes for catalyst deactivation. No significant changes in crystalline size or bimetallic phase composition were observed for spent catalysts (with the exception of Ir-Pd catalysts which underwent bulk carbide during the reaction).

A comprehensive approach to investigate the structural and surface properties of activated carbons and related Pd-based catalysts

Activated carbons and related Pd-based catalysts are investigated with a multi-techniques approach, which allows correlating structure and performance.

Pd-supported catalysts: evolution of support porous texture along Pd deposition and alkali-metal doping

Adsorption of N2 at 77 K and scanning electron microscopy have been used to measure the changes in the support morphology, at nano- and microscale level, along the processes involved in the preparation of a supported Pd catalyst: Pd deposition, doping, and thermal treatments. Among the investigated supports, viz., activated carbons, gamma-Al2O3, SiO2, and SiO2-Al2O3 (SA), the SA one was found particularly sensitive to these processes, as a result of its high plasticity and reactivity. Involved processes can be summarized as follows: (i) During the Pd deposition, the support itself is partially dissolved and removed as a result of both the basicity of the precipitating agent and the final washing. (ii) When the undoped sample is thermally treated up to 823 K, only modest phenomena are observed. (iii) Upon doping with potassium carbonate, the support dissolution continues, and the greater the carbonate concentration, the greater the dissolution extent. In this case the dissolved material is not removed, but reprecipitates (partially outside the pores), during the subsequent drying at 393 K. (iv) When doped samples are thermally treated, the reaction between carbonate and support causes the mobilization of the support itself, with sintering phenomena that can reach the total collapse of the porous structure. The starting temperature of the pore collapse decreases with increasing potassium carbonate concentration. The modification of the support influences, directly or indirectly, the surface properties and the availability of Pd particles that can be doped or even covered by materials from support and made more or less accessible or even inaccessible by pore narrowing, widening, or blocking.

Reductive hydrodechlorination of trichloroethylene by palladium-on-alumina catalyst: 13C solid-state NMR study of surface reaction precursors

Adsorption of trichloroethylene (TCE) on alumina-supported palladium catalysts (Pd/Al2O3) was studied in the presence and absence of hydrogen using 13C-solid state NMR. Carbon-13 NMR spectra indicate that at low coverage strongly adsorbed species are formed while at high coverage additional physisorbed species are present. Carbon-13 spin-echo amplitude data measured as a function of pulse separation, tau, was used to determine the 13C-13C intramolecular dipolar coupling and the carbon-carbon bond length of adsorbed species. Results indicate that a substantial fraction of the chemisorbed carbon species had undergone carbon-carbon bond scission forming single-carbon fragments, suggesting that the activation energy for carbon-carbon bond scission is comparable to the heat of adsorption. For the remaining surface species, the double bond is elongated to 1.46 +/- 0.03 A and is suspected to be chemically bonded ethynyl. At room temperature, adding an excess of hydrogen to catalyst that is covered to saturation with TCE precursors produces only in a small amount of ethane, indicating the fraction of surface species that are hydrodehalogenation precursors is small.

Gas-phase reaction of CCl2F2 (CFC-12) with methane

Gas-phase reaction of CFC-12 (CCl2F2) with methane was carried out in a plug flow reactor over the temperature range of 873-1123 K. The major organic halocarbons formed during the reaction were C2F4, C2H2F2, CHClF2, CH3Cl, C3H2F6 and CCl3F. The formation of all products except C2H2F2 decreased with temperature, while the selectivity to C2H2F2 (difluoroethylene) increased with temperature and reached approximately 80% at 1123 K. Under these reaction conditions, methane acts as hydrogen and carbon source, resulting in the formation of an unsaturated C2 hydrofluorocarbon from two C1 precursors.

Adsorption behavior of zinc and cadmium ion on granular activated carbon in singular and binary systems and the influence of nitrilotricetic acid as a complexing agent

Adsorption characteristics of zinc and cadmium ion on granular activated carbon have been studied in dynamic and equilibrium aspects and singular and binary adsorption behavior were compared. Based on the van't Hoff equation, reaction orders and rate constants were observed to increase as initial concentration of adsorbate was raised for both metal ions. Adsorption of Zn and Cd ion was found to increase with temperature, and this endothermic nature of adsorption reaction was further verified by thermodynamic calculation. Taking nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) as a ligand, the influence of complexing agent was examined and the variation of adsorption percentage was found to closely relate with the change in ionic form of NTA depending upon pH conditions and amount of complexing agent used. Features of binary adsorption are discussed for several influential parameters and experimental observations for both ions were correlated with a predicted adsorption isotherm based on a Langmuir multi-component model.