The influence of preparation variables on the performance of Pd/Al2O3 catalyst in the hydrogenation of 1,3-butadiene: Building a basis for reproducible catalyst synthesis

Abstract

Abstract A methodology based on design of experiments (DoE), high-throughput experimentation (HTE) and knowledge extraction was developed to study the influence of a multitude of preparation variables other than composition on the performance of supported catalysts. As an example, the methodology was applied to the impregnation of Pd on Al 2 O 3 and its catalytic performance in the gas phase hydrogenation of 1,3-butadiene. From the experimental data of 90 differently synthesized catalysts, the relative importance of each preparation variable was assessed. Moreover, the experimental data were used to derive a non-linear regression model that predicts catalytic activity as a function of preparation variables. The model was validated successfully by additional experiments. The identified important preparation variables provide a good basis to develop recipes for more controlled and reproducible catalyst synthesis.