Effect of Phosphorus Ligand on Cu-Based Catalysts for Acetylene Hydrochlorination

Because of the toxicity of traditional mercury catalysts, nonmercuric catalysts for acetylene hydrochlorination have been receiving great concern. In this study, a novel environmentally friendly Cu-1-hydroxyethylidene-1, 1-diphosphonic acid (HEDP)/activated carbon (AC) catalyst with wt % Cu loading was successfully synthesized by a simple method. Then, the prepared catalyst was used for an acetylene hydrochlorination reaction. HEDP was used because it is nontoxic and possesses outstanding coordination ability for metal ions. The catalyst showed 25% higher catalytic activity compared to pure Cu/AC at 180 degrees C and an acetylene gas hourly space velocity of 90 h(-1) X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, H-2 temperature-programmed reduction analyses proved that the addition of HEDP ligand can relatively inhibit the reduction of Cu2+ during the preparation of catalyst and reaction processes. In addition, analyses using TEM indicated that the addition of HEDP ligand can improve the dispersion of active components on the AC support.