Activated carbon derived from bacterial cellulose and its use as catalyst support for ethanol conversion to ethylene

Abstract

Activated carbon derived from bacterial cellulose (BC-AC) was modified with various amounts of H3PO4(x wt% P/BC-AC) and used as a catalyst for the selective dehydration of ethanol to ethylene. The BC-AC obtained at a carbonization temperature of 500 °C had a mesoporous structure with surface area and total pore volume of ~1730 m2/g and 1.0 cm3/g, respectively. An increase in the H3PO4 loading from 5% to 40% increased the number of weak acid sites on the catalyst surface, which consequently enhanced ethanol conversion. At the reaction temperature of 400 °C, the modified BC-AC with 30-40 wt% H3PO4 loading (P/BC-AC) gave an ethanol conversion at 100% and an ethylene selectivity of 100%. A high selectivity for diethyl ether (DEE) at ~ 67% at ethanol conversion of ~ 50% was obtained at 200 °C. Stability tests with a time-on-stream of 12 h, at reaction temperatures of 200 and 400 °C, showed that the P/BC-AC catalyst had high thermal stability and stable catalytic activity. Therefore, P/BC-AC was found to be very effective as an inexpensive and environmentally friendly catalyst for ethylene production via ethanol dehydration.