Ultra-stable Cu-based catalyst for dimethyl oxalate hydrogenation to ethylene glycol

Dimethyl oxalate(DMO) hydrogenation is a crucial step in the coal to ethylene glycol(CTEG) process.Herein, Cu catalyst supported on fibrous mesoporous silica(Cu/FMS) was synthesized via liquid phase deposition technique and applied for the DMO hydrogenation to EG. The catalyst exhibited a remarkable EG selectivity of 96.95% and maintained its activity without deactivation for 1000 h. Fibers of FMS support and liquid phase deposition technology cooperated to give high dispersion of Cu species in the Cu/FMS catalyst, resulting in a high Cu surface area. The formation of Si—O—Cu during catalyst preparation process increased the Cu^(+)/(Cu^(0)+ Cu^(+)) ratio and enhanced the thermal and valence stability of Cu species.The high Cu^(+) surface area and Cu stability(thermal and valence stability) of the Cu/FMS catalyst were key factors for achieving superior EG selectivity and ultra-high stability.

Preparation and adsorption property of novel inverse-opal hierarchical porous N-doped carbon microspheres

The design of pore structure is the key factor for the performance of porous carbon spheres.In this wo rk,novel micron-sized colloidal crystal microspheres consisting of fibrous silica(F-SiO_(2)) nanoparticles are firstly prepared by water-evapo ration-induced self-assembly of F-SiO_(2) nanoparticles in the droplets of an inverse emulsion system to be used as sacrificial templates.Acrylonitrile(AN) was infiltrated in the voids of the F-SiO_(2) colloidal crystal microspheres,and in-situ induced by ^(60)Co γ-ray to polymerize into polyacrylonitrile(PAN).After the PAN-infiltrated F-SiO_(2) colloidal crystal microspheres were carbonized and etched with HF solution,novel micron-sized inverse-opal N-doped carbon(IO-NC) microspheres consisting of hollow carbon nanoparticles with a hierarchical macro/meso-porous inner surface were obtained.The IO-NC microspheres have a specific surface area as high as 266.4 m^(2)/g and a molar ratio of C/N of 5.They have a good dispersibility in water,and show a high adsorption capacity towards rhodamine B(RhB) up to 137.28 mg/(g microsphe re).This work offers a way to obtain novel micron-sized hierarchical macro/meso-porous N-doped carbon microspheres,which opens a new idea to prepare high-performance hierarchical porous carbon materials.