On the Role of Anions in Solid Catalysts with Ionic Liquid Layer (SCILL) for the Selective Hydrogenation of Highly Concentrated Acetylene Streams.

Electric plasma assisted pyrolysis of methane represents a highly promising greener alternative to produce ethylene from biogas and renewable energies compared to conventional steam cracking of naphtha. The mediocre performance of typical Pd-Ag catalysts for the downstream purification of the substantially higher concentrated acetylene impurities (≥15 vol.-%) in those ethylene streams via selective hydrogenation is yet limiting economic interest. Following the concept of solid catalysts with ionic liquid layer (SCILL), we have modified an intrinsically non-selective palladium catalyst with imidazolium based ionic liquids varying among 10 different anions and investigated them in this reaction. The best performing [C₄C₁IM][MeSO₄]-SCILL reaches an outstanding average ethylene selectivity over 20 h on-stream of 82 % at full acetylene conversion without any sign of deactivation, clearly outperforming conventional Pd-Ag catalysts. By varying parameters like ionic liquid (IL) loading, temperature, feed gas composition, cations, and by using XPS for surface analysis we could gain a very comprehensive understanding of the underlying mechanisms that reduce the competing over-hydrogenation and oligomerisation side-reactions.