Hydrogenation of dimethyl oxalate to ethylene glycol over mesoporous <scp><scp>Cu</scp></scp>‐<scp>MCM</scp>‐41 catalysts

Abstract

The synthesis and utilization of mesoporous Cu ‐ MCM ‐41 catalysts for hydrogenation of dimethyl oxalate to ethylene glycol is described in this article. Physicochemical properties of these Cu ‐ MCM ‐41 catalysts have been investigated by N 2 ‐physisorption, X ‐ray diffraction, inductively coupled plasma, N 2 O titration, transmission electron microscopy, temperature programmed reduction, F ourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X ‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It was found that the copper loading significantly influenced the pore structure and copper surface area of the catalyst. High catalytic performance is obtained over a 20 Cu ‐ MCM ‐41 catalyst with a full DMO conversion and EG yield of 92% at a LHSV of 3.0 h −1 . The catalytic performance of optimized 20 Cu ‐ MCM ‐41 catalyst could be attributed to the fine copper dispersion and large copper surface areas. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J , 59: 2530–2539, 2013