Slurry-phase hydrogenation of aromatic compounds over supported noble metal catalysts

Abstract

The hydrogenation of benzene, naphthalene and biphenyl over monometallic (Pt, Rh, Ru) and bimetallic (Pt, Rh, Ru-Pd, Ir, Re ) catalysts supported on γ-Al 2O 3 or TiO 2 is investigated in a three-phase slurry reactor at a temperature of 300 °C and a hydrogen pressure of 66 atm. Under the conditions employed in this study, of the primary metals investigated platinum was found to possess the highest specific hydrogenation activity while biphenyl was found to be the most reactive molecule. The hydrogenation of benzene over platinum and naphthalene over platinum and rhodium were found to be structure insensitive reactions. In most cases, bimetallic formulations were found to exhibit significantly higher hydrogenation activity as compared to their monometallic counterparts. The enhancement factor was found to be larger when the bimetallic formations were supported on TiO 2 as opposed to Al 2O 3 carriers. Bimetallic catalysts, especially those containing rhenium were also found to exhibit enhanced resistance to sulfur poisoning.