Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
D.C. GRENOBLE
Exxon Research and Engineering Company, Corporate Research Laboratories,
ILinden, New Jersey 07’036
32
0021-9517/79/010032-08$02.00/O
Copyright 0 1979 by Academic Preys, IX.
All rights of reproduction in any form reservtd.
ACTIVITY/SELECTIVITY FOR H,/TOLUENE REACTION 33
Reactioll (1) is tllc desired reaction and kylation studies tlrscril)rd in detail prc:-
will be refrrrt~d to as tlir tolurne l~ydro- viously (6). Briefly, t.he kinetic studies were
dealkylation reaction (THD). Reaction (2) carried out in a down-flow quart#z micro-
is undesirable and represents the total hg- reactor using oil-filled U-tube manometers
drogenolysis of toluene. Equation (2) is to monitor the flow rates of gases. The
written showing only CH, as t,he hydro- toluene was added to the reactor by satura-
genolysis product since this was the onI\ tion of an inert, gas stream. Both the exit
hydrocarbon product observed other than line from the t,oluene saturator and t,he exit,
benzene. The relat,ive rates of reactions line from the reactor were continually
(1) and (2) determine t,he selertivity of the heated with elect*rical heating t’apes to
overall t,oluene/H:! reaction. temperatures well above t’he saturation
The catalysis of the THD reaction has temperature of the t,oluene. Total gas space
not been extensively studied. Dydykina velocities of about 20,000 V/V/hr were
et al. (2) and Mozhaiko ct al. (3) in t#he typically used in order to maintain toluene
Soviet Union have studied the THD reac- conversion less than 5%, thus assuring
tion over supported noble metals. Kochloefl reactor operation in a differential conver-
(4) in Germany reported results for the sion mode. The use of a differential reactor
THD reaction over several supported Rh minimizes heat and mass transfer effect,s,
catalyst’s. Kasoka and co-workers (5) in eliminates significant effects due to product
Japan compared the THD reaction over inhibit’ion, and provides information on
supported Rh, Pt, Pd, and Rh-Pt bi- initial rates and initial product dLt,ributions.
metallic cat.alyst systems. These studies All the catalysts used in this study were
have not compared the activit,ies of the prepared by incipient wetness t,echniques
met,als based on specific activities (rates using aqueous solut,ions of the following
per surface metal at,om) as in the present metal salt)s : RuC13 .rH20, RhCla .3H,O,
study. In Part 1 of this study the specific (NHJ,PdCL, XiiYO, . 6H20, H&Cl,.
activities and selectivities of the Group 2H&, H&C16.6H20, HzPtC16.6H20, and
VIII met’als/r-A1203 for t)he THD react’ion HReOd. The support (obtained from Engle-
will be presented. Where possible, these hard Chemical Division) used for all cata-
results are compared to the results of other lyst preparations was ~-Al&3 with a BET
workers for this reaction. A study of the surface area of about 170 m* g-l.
dependence of rate on the partial pressures Hydrogen chemisorption measurement)s
of toluene and hydrogen over the Group used to determine the metal surface area
VIII metals will be presented. A compari- were made in a glass apparatus similar to
son of the activit,ies of the Group VIII one described by Vannice (‘7’). For the de-
metals for THD to the activit’ies of these termination of Pd surface area by Hz chemi-
same metals for paraffin hydrogenolysis sorption, the method described by Boudart
reactions will also be made. In Part, 2 of and Hwang (8) was employed. For the other
this st.udy a reaction sequence will be met’als, the zero pressure intercept, value of
presented that incorporates bot,h carbon- the Hz isotherm was taken as the mono-
carbon bond breaking and product desorp- layer coverage.
tion steps in the overall sequence. Prior to Hz chemisorption measurements,
the catalysts were reduced for 1 hr at
EXPERIMENTAL METHODS
45O”C, then evacuated at 400°C for 1 hr,
The experimental apparatus and tech- and finally cooled to room temperature
niques used for the determination of the prior to Hz uptake determinations. Kinetic
THD reaction kinetics are identical to measurement)s were made after the catalysts
those employed for the toluene steam deal- were reduced for 1 hr at jOO”C and then
34 D. C. GRENOBLE
TABLE 2
Kinetic Parameters for Hydrodeslkylation of Toluene
Catalyst Temperature” nb mc Ed AC Nf Sg
(% WY-AMh)
l%‘,Ru 380 0.16 It 0.06 1.03 f 0.09 32.e f 2.0 1.62 X lo9 0.0170 0.82
1% Rh 320 0.23 f 0.03 0.20 f 0.05 32.4 f 1.1 8.32 X log 0.1191 0.98
1% Pd 450 0.47 f 0.10 -0.39 f 0.15 38.7 f 1.8 6.47 X IO9 0.0007 1.00
2% 0s 380 0.01 f 0.06 1.23 f 0.05 25.3 f 1.6 7.35 X lo6 0.0250 0.93
2% Ir 340 0.15 f 0.04 0.49 f 0.11 27.9 f 1.3 1.40 x 108 0.0642 0.95
2% pt 380 0.47 f 0.03 -0.06 f 0.04 33.7 f 2.8 5.90 x 10s 0.0031 0.96
5% Ni 290 0.34 i 0.07 -0.15 f 0.06 31.1 f 1.9 9.09 X lo9 0.3621 0.94
10% Re 450 -0.17 f 0.03 1.65 f 0.06 33.0 f 3.5 3.21 X lo7 0.0003 0.85
I I I I
la hCTI1'ITII:S T = 3eooc
0
: RSi
lb S,XT.CTIVTTIES
I I I I
VIIB VIII1 VIII 2 VIII3
FIG. 1. (a) Activities and (b) selectivities of alumina-supported metals. Act,ivities are turnover
rates at 380°C and partial pressures of Hs and toluene of 36.5 and 10.1 kPa, respectively. Selec-
tivities were determined at the reaction temperatures reported in Table 2.
et al. (9). The high Hz uptake is indicative where Xlien = mole fraction of benzene in
of a highly dispersed metal component. the product, and XCE14 = mole fraction of
This, coupled with CO chemisorption re- CHI in the product. Activities list,ed were
sults, which also indicates high dispersion, determined after 1 hr on stream and are ex-
justifies the assumpbion t.hat 1% and Ir pressed as turnover rates. When activities
have fraction-exposed values of 1.0. E’or mere not specifically measured at, 3SO”C,
the other metals one chemisorhed H atom they mere adjusted to 30°C using t>he
was assumed to represent one surface metal equation :V = A esp( -f<JR1’) where E’,
atom. is the measured apparent> activation energ)
Table 2 presents the kinetic parameter and A is the preexponential factor. Both
for the Hz-toluene reaction. Select’ivities these parameters are included in Table 2.
(molecules benzene formed per molecule The activitirs wrre all determined at, con-
toluene reacted) were calculated according
stant parGal pressures of Hz and toluene of
to the following expression :
approximately 36.5 and 10.1 kl’a, respec-
X Ben
s=--- tively. Figure 1 compares the periodic
---- , (3)
(~Ben + [(&HI - XBen) /7]) trends of the specific activities (Fig. la)
36 D. C. GRENOBLE
and selectivities (Fig. lb) of the various a selective cleavage of the alkyl carbon
metals supported on A1203. With both the atom bond with the aromatic nucleus. The
second and t’hird period metals there is a simplest hydrogenolysis reaction is the
maximum in activity at the Group VIII2 reaction of ethane and hydrogen as follows :
metals, Rh and Ir. From Fig. lb it is seen
CzHs + H, + SCH, (4)
that t’he selectivities increase with increas-
ing atomic number. This trend within the This reaction has been one of the most ex-
Group VIII metals is opposite to the tensively studied metal-catalyzed reactions.
tendency of these metals to catalyze C-C Sinfelt and co-workers have reported de-
bond-breaking reactions such as the ethane tailed studies of the kinetics of this reaction
hydrogenolysis reaction studied by Sinfelt as catalyzed by the Group VIIB, VIII, and
(10). It is clear from Fig. 1 that the metal IB metals on a variety of supports, prin-
of choice for toluene hydrodealkylation is cipally SiOZ. These results are summarized
Rh since it has both high activity and in a review by Sinfelt (10) and in an up-
selectivity. It is also interesting to note that dated kinetic analysis (11).
Rh is the preferred metal for the toluene It will be useful to compare the periodic
steam dealkylation reaction (6) because trends of the kinetic parameters of ethane
of its high activity and selectivity to hydrogenolysis with those found for the
benzene for that reaction. The relat,ive THD reaction. For this purpose the results
order of specific activities of the metals for reported by Sinfelt (10) for the various
toluene hydrodealkylation is : Ni, 1000 ; metals supported on SiOz will be used. As
Rh, 329; Ir, 177; OS, 69 ; Ru, 47; Pt, 9; was previously shown (Id), the specific
Pd, 2; Re, 1. activity of rhodium is virtually independent
The partial pressure dependencies of Hz of support with the difference in activity
and toluene over Group VIII metals, varying by about a factor of 2 between
which have not been previously reported, Rh/ALO,, Rh/SiOz, Rh/C, and unsup-
are presented in Table 2 for the THD reac- ported Rh black. These results also indicate
tion. As can be seen from Table 2, the that the THD is structure insensitive since
partial pressure dependencies vary system- the fraction-exposed of rhodium varied
atically according to the metal’s periodic from 0.01 for Rh black to 1 for Rh/ALO,.
position. The toluene order of reaction Thus it is reasonable to compare the specific
varies from near zero order to about 4 activities of the various metals supported
order. The H2 order varies from strongly on AL.03 for the THD reaction to the
positive over Ru, OS, and Re to negative specific activities of the met,als supported
over Pt, Pd and Ni. on SiOZ reported by Sinfelt for ethane
hydrogenolysis.
DISCUSSION
For ethane hydrogenolysis, the activities
In this section the results of the present of the Group VIII metals vary over an
study will be discussed in relation to what extremely wide range. At a temperature
is known about these metals as catalysts for of 205°C Sinfelt observed a range of activi-
general carbon-carbon bond-breaking re- ties of seven to eight orders of magnitude
actions. Next, the results of other workers from the least active metals, Pt and Pd,
for THD reaction studies will be compared to the most active metals, OS and Ru. In
to the present results. Fig. 2 t.he periodic trends of the specific
The metal-cat#alyzed reaction of hydrogen activities at 205°C of various metals for
with hydrocarbons in which C-C bonds arc ethane hydrogenolysis, using the dat#a of
broken is termed hydrogenolysis. The Sinfelt (IO), are compared to the periodic
H.Jtoluene reaction may thus be considered trends of the activities of those metals for
acTI\‘ITY/S~I,I~CTIVITY FOl< IT,/TOLUl:Nl~: I:I~ACTION 37
desorption) steps in the overall reaction present results for turnover rates of Ru and
sequence. Pt are more than an order of magnitude
There has not been extensive research on higher than those reported by Jlozhaiko.
THD reported in the literature. The most The author has no explanation for these
comprehensive studies have been those by large discrepancies although differences in
Rabinovich and co-workers in the Soviet catalyst preparations and experimental
Union. Mozhaiko et al. (3) report the conditions may in part account for the
activities, selectivities, and activation ener- differences.
gies of the Group VIII noble metals sup- Kochloefl (4) has also reported the
ported on y-AL03 as determined in a flow activity of Rh/ALOs for THD. Using his
reactor. They report the relative order of resulbs it is possible bo calculate a turnover
activities of t’he Group VIII metals at rate for Rh which is also included in Table
490°C as follows : Rh, 100 ; Ir, 75 ; Os, 11; 3. Kochloefl reports a much lower value for
I’d, 9; Ru, 4; Pt, 1.5. The percentage the turnover rate of Rh than t,hose of the
selectivities of the various metals for other workers. Also included in Table 3
benzene formation were reported to be: are a comparison of t’he selectivities and
Pd, 99-100; Pt, 98-99 ; Rh, 96-98 ; OS, activation energies. The present results
95-96 ; Ir, 90-92 ; Ru, SO-85 In an earlier agree quite well with those reported by
study Dydykina et al. (2) reported t,he Mozhaiko et al. The activat.ion energy re-
following results from a pulse reactor study : ported by Kochloefl for Rh is quite low
Rh > Ir > OS > Ru > Pt > Pd. Using the compared to the other results. This is sug-
present results from Table 2 the relative gestive of possible diff usional constraint,s
specific activities of the noble metals at in Kochloefl’s experiments and may in part
380°C are : Rh, 100 ; Ir, 54 ; OS, 21; Ru, 14; account for his lower turnover rate. All
Pt, 3; Pd, 1. The sequence of activities re- studies, however, report Rh as the most
ported by Dydykina et al. (2) is identical active noble met,al for THD.
to the activity sequence reported here. Neither Mozhaiko et al. nor Kochloefl re-
However, the activit’y sequence from the port partial pressure dependencies for any
flow reactor studies reported by Nozhaiko, of metals studied. Dydykina et al. (6) report
Rabinovich et al. (3) differs significantly (based on pulse reactor studies) that Rh,
from the present results for the less active Ru, OS, and Ir respond positively to the
metals. presence of hydrogen indicating a possible
In contrast to the present study, the positive order with respect to hydrogen,
studies of Dydykina and Mozhaiko do not whereas they report that Pt and Pd re-
report activities as specific rates relative spond negatively to the presence of hydro-
to the metal surface area of the catalyst. gen, suggesting a negative order of reaction
RIozhaiko et al. (sj did report, however, with respect to hydrogen. These qualitative
metal surface areas for several of the observations agree directionally with the
metals. Using their results it is possible to quarnitative result,s presented in Table 2.
calculate turnover rates for several of the Mozhaiko et a.Z. (3) noted that t’he de-
metals based on their reported conversion, alkylation rate appeared to be independent
flow rate, and activation energy results. If of the toluene partial pressure, thus sug-
this is done, Table 3 can be constructed gesting a near zero order of reaction with
comparing the present results to those respect t.o toluene. Kasaoka et al. (5) have
reported by Mozhaiko et al. The t’urnover studied a Rh-Pt/Al,Os alloy catalyst for
rat,es for Rh and Pd agree quite well THD. They report’ orders of reaction with
(within a factor of 2) whereas the results respect to toluene and hydrogen to be 0.15
for Ru and 1% disagree substantially. ‘I’hc aud 1.0, respectively. As shown in Table 2,
ACTIVITY/SELECTIVITY FOR Hz/TOLUENE REACTION 39
TABLE 3
a Turnover rate, molecues of benzene formed per second per metal sit.e.
b Selectivity, molecules of benzene formed per molecule of toluene reacted.
c Apparent activation energy, kilocalories per mole.
the present results indicate a near zero- to S. Mozhaiko, V. N., Rabinovich, G. L., Maslyan-
skii, G. N., and Erdyakova, L. P., Nejtek-
+-order dependence on toluene partial
himiya 15, 95 (1975).
pressure. In Part 2 of this study a kinetic 4. Kochloefl, L., in “Proceedings, Sixth Inter-
analysis of the THD reaction is presented national Congress on Catalysis, London,
that fits t,hese kinetic parameters to a power 1976” (G. C. Bonds, P. B. Walls, and F. C.
rate law expression derived from an assumed Tompkins, Eds.). Chemical Societ,y, London,
1977.
reaction sequence.
5. Kasaoka, S., Omito, M., UTatomabe, T., and
Takamatsu, K., Nippon Kagaka Kaishi 8,
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
1418 (1975).
The author t,hanks Sybille Pagnucco and Michele 6. Grenoble, D. C., J. Cutal. 51, 203 (1978).
Estadt who performed the bulk of the experimental 7. Vannice, M. A., J. Catal. 37, 449 (1975).
work discussed in this paper. 8. Boudart, M., and Hwang, H. S., J. Catal. 39,
44 (1975).
REFERENCES 0. McVicker, G. B., Garten, R. L., and Baker,
R. T. K., in “Preprints. Fifth Canadian
1. Makherjee, S. K., and Nair, C. 8. B., Petrol. Symposium on Catalysis, October 26-27,
Hydrocarbons 4, 22 (1969). 1977, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.”
2. Dydykina, G. V., Rabinovich, G. L., Maslyanski, 10. Sinfelt, J. H., Catal. Rev. 3, 175 (1969).
G. N., and Dment’eva, M. I., K&et. Katal. 11. Sinfelt, J. H., J. Catal. 2’7, 468 (1972).
10, 607 (1969). 12. Grenoble, D. C., J. Catal. 51, 212 (1978).