Dehydrogenation of Ethanol to Acetaldehyde over Co/C Catalysts

Abstract

This study focuses on the production of acetaldehyde from ethanol by catalytic dehydrogenation using Co/C catalysts with different Co loading on the activated carbon derived from coffee ground residues. The simple impregnation was used to obtain the Co/C catalysts having Co loading of ca. 4 and 6 wt%. The catalysts were characterized using various techniques. The dehydrogenation of vaporized ethanol was conducted in order to measure the catalytic activity and product distribution at temperatures ranging from 250 to 400°C. Based on this study, it appeared that the Co/C catalyst having ca. 4 wt% of cobalt loading (4%Co/C) exhibited the highest ethanol conversion (54%) at 400^oC with the acetaldehyde yield of 50%. In addition, all catalysts behaved similar catalytic properties, where the ethanol conversion increased with increasing the reaction temperature having acetaldehyde as a major product. The high activity obtained from 4%Co/C and C catalysts can be remarkably attributed to the high acidity to basicity (~1.50). Hence, the 4%Co/C is promising catalyst for ethanol dehydrogenation to acetaldehyde.