Acid-Base Promoted Dehydrogenation Coupling of Ethanol on Supported Ag Particles

Dehydrogenation coupling of ethanol to n-butanol has received much attention due to the wide application of n-butanol, especially alternative to ethanol as fuel additive. Highly selective butanol production from ethanol remains a challenge due to competitive reactions in the dehydrogenation and/or condensation and great difficulty in ethanol dehydrogenation. This work reports a synergistic catalysis between layered double hydroxide (LDO), an acidic-basic support, and supported Ag particles for the dehydrogenation coupling of ethanol to n-butanol. A selectivity of up to 77 % toward n-butanol with ethanol conversion of 23.2 %, amongst impressive levels reported till now, has been achieved at 350 oC, 0.1 MPa. A selectivity of up to 60 % toward n-butanol with ethanol conversion of 45 % , the highest selectivity at an ethanol conversion of > 45 % reported till now, has been achieved at 250 oC, 2 MPa. A synergistic catalysis between the acid-base sites of LDO surface and supported Ag particles has been revealed...