The removal of trace amounts of acetylene in ethylene streams is a high-volume industrial process that must possess high selectivity of alkyne hydrogenation over hydrogenation of alkenes. Current technology uses metallic nanoparticles, typically palladium or platinum, for acetylene removal. However, problems arise due to the deactivation of the catalysts at high temperatures as well as low selectivities at high conversions. Pore expanded MCM-41 is synthesized via a two-step strategy in which MCM-41 was prepared via cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTMABr) followed by the hydrothermal treatment with N,N-dimethyldecylamine (DMDA). This material was washed with ethanol to remove DMDA, or calcined to remove both surfactants. PE-MCM-41 based materials were impregnated with palladium, gold, and palladium-gold nanoparticles. The removal of DMDA had an effect on both the conversion and selectivity, in which they were found to drop significantly. However, by using the bimetallic PdAu catalysts, higher selectivity could be achieved due to increased electron density.

In this study, the effects of alumina grinding and mixed oxides (ZnO-Al2O3 and NiO-Al2O3) grinding with various Zn/Al and Ni/Al molar ratios (0.1 and 0.5) prepared by an attrition ball mill on catalytic performance of alumina supported Pd catalysts for selective hydrogenation of acetylene were investigated. It was found that catalytic performances of the Pd catalyst supported on Al2O3 milled for 12 h were superior compared to those of Pd-supported on the unmilled Al2O3. However, all the catalysts prepared from milled mixed oxides presented lower acetylene conversion and ethylene selectivity than that of the catalyst prepared from alumina milled for 12 h. From X-ray diffraction, it was suggested that varying milling time directly affected the crystallite size, surface area and acidity of alumina supports. As revealed by CO chemisorption, milling of Al2O3 supports could increase metal active sites of Pd/Al2O3 catalysts without change in the interaction between Pd and the alumina support so that the catalysts exhibited higher acetylene activity and ethylene selectivity. Moreover, increasing of acidity affected coke formation on the catalysts.