Effects of SBA-15 physicochemical properties on performance of Pd/SBA-15 catalysts in 2-ethyl-anthraquinone hydrogenation

A series of SBA-15 mesoporous silicas with pore sizes ranging between 7 and 26 nm were synthesized and modified by incorporating Al or Mg and functionalization with n-dodecyltrimethoxysilane. Pd/SBA-15 catalysts were prepared and the effects of the pore structure, Al/Mg modifiers and Pd particles distribution on 2-ethyl-anthraquinone hydrogenation have been studied. The catalytic performance improves with enlarging SBA-15 pore size and reaches a plateau at 22.3 nm. The incorporation of Mg into SBA-15 increases the catalytic performance of catalysts. But, the incorporation of Al brings about opposite results. The functionalization of SBA-15 with n-dodecyltrimethoxysilane further enhances the catalytic performance. (C) 2018 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.