A highly effective zinc-methanesulfonic acid catalyst for acetylene hydration

Abstract

Acetylene hydration to acetaldehyde is considered a valuable and potential production route in the acetylene chemical industry. A new Zn-based catalyst was synthesized using a simple method and evaluated for the acetylene hydration reaction. All catalysts were characterized by XRD, BET, TGA, TEM, XPS, H₂-TPR, and ICP-OES techniques to explore the effects of the methanesulfonic acid (MSA) ligand on the catalytic performance of the zinc catalyst in the hydration of acetylene. It was proved that the MSA ligand was an excellent ligand to improve the catalytic activity of the Zn-based catalyst for the hydration of acetylene. An outstanding catalytic stability was exhibited over the Zn-1.5MSA/MCM-41 catalyst with the C₂H₂ conversion of 99%, and the selectivity to CH₃CHO was above 70% within 150 h. Moreover, the characterization results showed that the addition of the MSA ligand could provide more acid sites and improve the dispersion of the metal catalyst. Moreover, the aggregation of Zn species and the loss of active Zn species were the main reasons for the deactivation of the Zn-based catalyst during the catalytic stability test for acetylene hydration. This study would provide more valuable perspectives for the design of ligand catalysts for the hydration of acetylene.