Clean Transformation of Ethanol to Useful Chemicals. The Behavior of a Gold-Modified Silicalite Catalyst

Upon addition of gold to silicalite-1 pellets (a MFI-type zeolite), the vapor phase oxidation of ethanol could be addressed to acetaldehyde or acetic acid formation. By optimizing the catalyst composition and reaction conditions, the conversion of ethanol could be tuned to acetaldehyde with 97% sele...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ermelinda Falletta, Michele Rossi, Joaquim Henrique Teles, Cristina Della Pina
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2016-03-01
Series:Molecules
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/21/3/379
Description
Summary:Upon addition of gold to silicalite-1 pellets (a MFI-type zeolite), the vapor phase oxidation of ethanol could be addressed to acetaldehyde or acetic acid formation. By optimizing the catalyst composition and reaction conditions, the conversion of ethanol could be tuned to acetaldehyde with 97% selectivity at 71% conversion or to acetic acid with 78% selectivity at total conversion. Considering that unloaded silicalite-1 was found to catalyze the dehydration of ethanol to diethylether or ethene, a green approach for the integrated production of four important chemicals is herein presented. This is based on renewable ethanol as a reagent and a modular catalytic process.
ISSN:1420-3049