Carbon-decorated-Pd (Pd@C) nanocatalysts structured on Al-fiber thin felt for dimethyl carbonate synthesis via carbonylation of methyl nitrite

Abstract

A carbon-decorated Pd@C/ns-AlOOH/Al-fiber catalyst (0.24 wt% Pd) is engineered from nano- to macro-scales, which is promising for the vapor-phase synthesis of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) from methyl nitrite (MN) and CO. A high MN conversion of 99.9% with MN-based DMC selectivity of 39.1% and 70.6% CO conversion with CO-based DMC selectivity of 39.6% can be obtained at 220 °C for a feed of MN/CO/N2 (10/7/83) at a high gas hourly space velocity of 25,000 L kg−1 h−1. Moreover, the carbon decoration shows ability to improve the formation of electron-deficient Pd species, which is paramount for the enhanced selectivity to DMC.