Characterization and catalytic performance of sol-gel derived Cu/SiO2 catalysts for hydrogenolysis of diethyl oxalate to ethylene glycol

A series of Cu/SiO2 catalysts with copper loadings ranging from 17.8 to 42.2 wt% were prepared by the sol-gel method and evaluated for the hydrogenolysis of diethyl oxalate to ethylene glycol. The physicochemical properties of these catalysts were systematically characterized by means of different techniques. It is found that copper loadings have great influence on the catalytic performance; the catalyst with a copper loading of 37.8 wt% exhibited the best activity and ethyl glycol selectivity. The sol-gel derived catalyst was superior in catalytic performance to the catalyst prepared by the deposition precipitation method, a result due to the presence of finely dispersed copper phyllosilicate.