Multicomponent Pt-based catalyst for highly efficient chemoselective hydrogenation of 4-carboxybenzaldehyde

Abstract The design of efficient nanostructured catalysts is highly desirable for promoting the hydrogenation of 4-carboxybenzaldehyde (4-CBA), which are the key process of hydrorefining of crude terephthalic acid (CTA) to pure terephthalic acid (PTA). Herein, the Pt-FeNi@C, Pt-Fe@C and Pt-Ni@C catalysts were developed and proved to be active for the selective hydrogenation of 4-CBA. As a result, the excellent 4-hydroxymethylbenzoic acid (4-HMBA) selectivity (85%) and benzoic acid (BA) selectivity (88%) were achieved on Pt-FeNi@C and Pt/C, respectively. In comparison with the commercial Pd/C catalyst, the Pt-FeNi@C catalyst exhibits excellent activity (97%) and reduces the occurrence of decarbonylation. Moreover, the Pt-FeNi@C catalyst exhibits excellent recyclability: the catalytic activity did not decrease significantly after four reaction cycles. In combination with detailed characterization, the Pt-FeNi@C catalyst has porous graphene core-shell architecture and remarkable electron transfer capacity. This work may provide some inspirations for the exploration of new PTA hydrofining catalysts.