Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have great potential in catalysis. Open metal sites can make them a promising class of single-atom catalysts. However, so far, their use in industrial applications under realistic conditions is limited.
Marcus Rose, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, and colleagues have investigated the performance of a Pd-MOF in the selective hydrogenation of acetylene. The catalytic testing was carried out in a continuously operated Advanced TEMKIN reactor setup under rather demanding front-end conditions, i.e., an excess amount of ethylene and hydrogen and a feed acetylene concentration of 3000–4000 ppm as well as CO for selectivity modulation.
The selected MOF, [Pd(2-pymo)2]n (2-pymo = 2-pyrimidinolate), showed an exceptionally high activity and selectivity compared to an industrial reference catalyst. When the MOF particles were supported on alumina pellets, a stable catalytic performance was observed. Performance data and materials characterization point towards coordinatively unsaturated single Pd ions as the active sites, most likely within defects and at the edges of the MOF crystallites.
- [Pd(2‐pymo)2]n/Al2O3 as MOF single site catalyst for the selective hydrogenation of acetylene,
Sebastian Hock, Martin Lucas, Eva Kolle-Görgen, Maximilian Mellin, Jan Philipp Hofmann, Marcus Rose,
ChemCatChem 2023.
https://doi.org/10.1002/cctc.202201479
