PNNL

Abstract

In the base catalyzed ethanol condensation reactions, the calcined MgO-Al2O3 derived hydrotalcites used broadly as catalytic material and the calcination temperature plays a big role in determining the catalytic activity. The characteristic of the hydrotalcite material treated between catalytically relevant temperatures 450ºC and 800ºC have been studied with respect to the physical, chemical, and structural properties and compared with catalytic activity testing. With the increasing calcination temperature, the total measured catalytic basicity dropped linearly with the calcination temperature and the total measured acidity stayed the same for all the calcination temperatures except 800ºC. However, the catalyst activity testing does not show any direct correlation between the measured catalytic basicity and the catalyst activity to the ethanol condensation reaction to form 1-butanol. The highest ethanol conversion of 44 percent with 1-butanol selectivity of 50 percent was achieved for the 600ºC calcined hydrotalcite material.