[Pd(2-pymo)2]n/Al2O3 as MOF Single Site Catalyst for the Selective Hydrogenation of Acetylene

Despite the great potential of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) in catalysis, industrial applications are still scarce. This is mainly due to a lack of performance when changing from idealized lab conditions towards realistic conditions of the actual application. In this work, we demonstrate the applicability and outstanding catalytic performance of an alumina-supported [Pd(2-pymo)(2)](n) MOF catalyst in the selective hydrogenation of acetylene to ethylene under industrial front-end conditions. It shows a competitive performance to an industrial benchmark catalyst and even exceeds it in terms of ethane selectivity due to the combination of well-defined isolated Pd active sites and synergies due to MOF-support-interactions. The high stability was proven for up to 60 h time-on-stream and supported by XPS and XRD structural analysis.

Automated summary

In this work, the researchers demonstrate the applicability and outstanding catalytic performance of an alumina-supported [Pd(2-pymo)(2)](n) MOF catalyst in the selective hydrogenation of acetylene to ethylene under industrial front-end conditions. The catalyst shows competitive performance to an industrial benchmark catalyst and exceeds it in terms of ethane selectivity due to the combination of well-defined isolated Pd active sites and synergies due to MOF-support interactions. The high stability of the catalyst is proven for up to 60 hours on-stream and supported by XPS and XRD structural analysis.