Preparation of highly selective and stable Cu-Mg-Fe catalyst and its catalytic performance for one-step synthesis of 2-ethylhexanol from n-butyraldehyde

摘要

A Cu-Mg-Fe catalyst was prepared by a coprecipitation-impregnation method and some influential factors such as Cu/Fe molar ratio, Mg/Fe molar ratio, calcination temperature and reduction temperature were investigated by means of XRD, XPS, NH3(or CO2)-TPD, H-2-TPR and SEM analyses. Suitable preparation conditions were obtained as follows: a Cu/Mg/Fe ratio of 1:2:1, a calcination temperature of 550 degrees C, and a reduction temperature of 450 degrees C. The Cu-Mg-Fe catalyst showed a high catalytic performance for one-step synthesis of 2-ethylhexanol from n-butyraldehyde; the yield and selectivity of 2-ethylhexanol were 68.6% and 72.4% while the overall selectivity of C8 + C4 products was greatly improved to 96.9% under suitable reaction conditions.