Efficient Synthesis of Cyclohexanol and Ethanol via the Hydrogenation of Acetic Acid‐Derived Cyclohexyl Acetate with the Cu<sub>x</sub>Al<sub>1</sub>Mn<sub>2−x</sub> Catalysts
Tongyang Song, Wei Chen, Yuanyuan Qi, Peng Wu, Zhirong Zhu, Xiaohong Li
Abstract
Abstract The hydrogenation of cyclohexyl acetate (CHA), derived from the esterification of acetic acid and cyclohexene, not only alleviates the overcapacity of acetic acid, but also produces value‐added cyclohexanol (CHOL) and ethanol at a low cost. Herein, we prepared Cu 1 Al 1 , Cu 1 Mn 1 and Cu x Al 1 Mn 2−x catalysts via a deposition‐precipitation method for the hydrogenation of CHA to CHOL and ethanol. As a result, the ternary Cu x Al 1 Mn 2−x catalysts exhibited superior behaviors to Cu 1 Al 1 and Cu 1 Mn 1 . To our delight, Cu 1 Al 1 Mn 1 had a 95.0 % CHA conversion and 93.6 % selectivity to CHOL along with 97.6 % selectivity to ethanol in a batch reactor. Based on detailed characterization, the ternary Cu x Al 1 Mn 2−x catalysts possessed more uniformed dispersion of Cu particles, less aggregation and larger BET specific surface area than the binary catalysts. Furthermore, Cu 1 Al 1 Mn 1 possessed the highest Cu 0 /(Cu 0 +Cu + ) molar ratio, the highest (Mn 2+ +Mn 3+ )/Mn 4+ molar ratio and the most abundant surface oxygen vacancies, facilitating the adsorption and activation of CHA and hydrogen. In addition, Cu 1 Al 1 Mn 1 had excellent stability (>500 h) in a fixed‐bed reactor.