Studies on dehydrogenation of 2-butanol over supported copper catalysts prepared by sol-gel and impregnation methods

The CU/SiO2 catalysts were prepared by sol-gel and impregnation methods. The effect of the different preparing methods and contents of copper on the structure and property of the catalysts was studied, and the activity of these catalysts on the dehydrogenation of 2-butanol and the selectivity for MEK were also investigated. These catalysts were characterized by means of BET, XRD, EPR and TPR. The results indicat that the high dispersing copper catalysts could be prepared by using sol-gel method. There were two kinds of copper species on the surface of catalysts, one was the unreduced isolated Cu2+, the other was the copper oxide clusters. There was only the copper oxide clusters on the catalyst prepared by impregnation method. The results show that the isolated Cu2+, was inactive for dehydrogenation of 2-butanol. The copper oxide clusters could be reduced to Cu-0 during the reaction, Cu-0 was. the main stable active sites for this reaction.