Enhanced catalytic activity for CO esterification to dimethyl oxalate via increasing Lewis basic sites in Pd/MgAl-LDO catalyst

Abstract

CO esterification to dimethyl oxalate (DMO) has important industrial application value. However, the influence of support on catalytic performance has not been investigated sufficiently. In this work, MgAl-LDO supports (MgAl-LDO-400 and MgAl-LDO-600) were prepared at different calcination temperatures. The corresponding Pd-based catalysts was synthesized by impregnation method. The Pd/MgAl-LDO-400 catalyst exhibited higher CO conversion (39%) compared with the Pd/MgAl-LDO-600 (16%). It was found that Pd/MgAl-LDO-400 catalyst contains more Lewis basic sites, which is responsible for its higher activity. This work provides a general understanding of the support effect on catalytic performance induced by the Lewis basic sites.