Characterization of Copper Foam as Catalytic Material in Ethanol Dehydrogenation

Abstract

Copper foam was used as a catalyst in ethanol dehydrogenation to acetaldehyde. Catalyst pretreatment, reaction temperature, liquid feed composition, and catalyst loading all affect ethanol conversion. Copper foam pretreated by oxidation yielded the highest ethanol conversion but deactivated due to copper surface reconstruction. The foam catalyst can be repeatedly reactivated by a short time exposure to air under reaction conditions. Yet, copper foam performance for ethanol dehydrogenation has been inferior in terms of activity and stability to that of supported copper catalysts.

A porous structured reactor for hydrogenation reactions

“…Among many others, trickle bed and monolithic reactors [8] [9] [10], micro-reactors [11] [12] and catalyst coated highly porous structures, like metal and ceramic foams [13] [14] [15], were studied and described in the literature. A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t …”

Anhydrous Ethanol Dehydrogenation on Metal–Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition Grown GaN(0001)

“…The reforming of ethanol has recently attracted attention, as this alcohol may act as hydrogen sources and renewable feedstocks in heterogeneous − and photocatalysis. − While hydrogen generation is feasible on noble metals supported on various oxides, new noble-metal-free catalysts are limited in selectivity and activity, so far. ,− On the one hand, ethanol dehydrogenation on many oxides leads to the formation of water instead of H 2 and is accompanied by side reactions such as further oxidations of the acetaldehyde. On the other hand, supported metal catalysts even exhibit more complex reaction networks and show deactivation by coking .…”

New, efficient and viable system for ethanol fuel utilization on combined electric/internal combustion engine vehicles

“…It is well known that copper does not promote the CeC bond scission [19], and so the ethanol dehydrogenation generates a H 2 flow free of either CO and CO 2 . The catalytic interface properties of coppereZrO 2 might be optimized to lead ethanol conversion to ethyl acetate in detriment of acetaldehyde.…”