An operando DRIFTS investigation into the resistance against CO2 poisoning of a Rh/alumina catalyst during toluene hydrogenation

Julien Scalbert; Frederic C. Meunier; Cecile Daniel; Yves Schuurman

doi:10.1039/C1CP22620G

An operando DRIFTS investigation into the resistance against CO₂ poisoning of a Rh/alumina catalyst during toluenehydrogenation

Julien Scalbert,^a Frederic C. Meunier,*^a Cecile Daniel^b and Yves Schuurman^b

* Corresponding authors

^a Laboratoire Catalyse et Spectrochimie, ENSICAEN, University of Caen, CNRS, 6 Bd Maréchal Juin, Caen, France
E-mail: frederic.meunier@ensicaen.fr

^b Université Lyon 1, CNRS, UMR 5256, IRCELYON, Institut de Recherches sur la Catalyse et l'Environnement de Lyon, 2 Avenue Albert Einstein, F-69626 Villeurbanne, France

Abstract

CO₂ is a major contaminant of renewable H₂ derived from biomass fermentation. The effect of the presence of CO₂ on the activity of alumina-supported Pt and Rh catalysts used for the hydrogenation of toluene at 348 K was investigated. The use of operando diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRIFTS) was crucial in unravelling the changes in the nature and abundance of species adsorbed at the sample surface and relating those to the changes of catalytic activity. Rhodium supported on alumina was only partly deactivated by the introduction of CO₂ during the hydrogenation of toluene, contrary to the case of Pt/alumina. Rh was only partially covered by carbonyl species derived from CO₂ and it was shown that toluene could successfully compete with some of the linearly adsorbed carbonyls for adsorption. The alumina support stored many CO₂-derived adsorbates (carbonates, hydrogenocarbonates, carboxylates) that could spill over to the metal and form carbonyl species even after the removal of CO₂ from the feed.

This article is part of the themed collection: Operando surface spectroscopy

Article information

https://doi.org/10.1039/C1CP22620G

Article type

Paper

Submitted

15 Aug 2011

Accepted

22 Sep 2011

First published

11 Oct 2011

Download Citation

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2012,14, 2159-2163

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An operando DRIFTS investigation into the resistance against CO₂ poisoning of a Rh/alumina catalyst during toluene hydrogenation

J. Scalbert, F. C. Meunier, C. Daniel and Y. Schuurman, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2012, 14, 2159 DOI: 10.1039/C1CP22620G

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