High catalytic activity of CuY catalysts prepared by high temperature anhydrous interaction for the oxidative carbonylation of methanol.

CuY catalysts were prepared by high temperature anhydrous interaction between NHY zeolite and copper(ii) acetylacetonate Cu(acac) and the activities were measured for the oxidative carbonylation of methanol to dimethyl carbonate under atmospheric pressure. The bulk and surface properties of the as-prepared catalyst were characterized by XRD, H-TPR and XPS techniques. The activation atmosphere of the CuY catalyst and the testing temperature of the catalytic activity was systematically studied. During activation, nitrogen promotes the auto-reduction of Cu to form the Cu active center, but deposited carbon on the surface of the CuY catalyst covers the active center, even plugging the channel, resulting in lower catalytic activity. Oxygen eliminates deposited carbon, but is not so good for the auto-reduction of Cu. Nitrogen doped with a small amount of oxygen not only eliminates the deposited carbon, but also promotes the auto-reduction of Cu to form more Cu active centers. With the testing temperature increasing, the catalytic activity increases first and then decreases. When the testing temperature is 170 °C, the CuY catalyst with satisfactory activity and stability showed an excellent catalytic activity with 525.1 mg g h space time yield of DMC (STY) and 18.9% methanol conversion. Then the longevity was investigated at 170 °C for 150 h. During the initial reaction period of 40 h, the STY value was constant. In the next 20 h, the catalytic activity slightly decreased. But in the last 90 h, the catalytic performance is very stable and the STY value remains 480 mg g h. The main cause of deactivation is the growth of the particles.