The effect of calcination temperature on physicochemical properties of alumina as a support for acetylene selective hydrogenation catalyst

The influence of the presence of transition alumina phases on the catalytic properties of Pd–Ag/Al2O3 was investigated for selective hydrogenation of acetylene in operating conditions near a commercial plant. Transition alumina samples were prepared by calcination in the temperature range of 1080–1150 °C. It was observed that by increasing the α-phase content of alumina sample, acidity and surface area were decreased while average pore diameter was increased. From the viewpoint of catalytic performance, increasing the calcination temperature caused acetylene conversion to be decreased and ethylene selectivity to be increased. The higher the α-phase content in alumina support, the better its selectivity.