Supported ionic liquid-copper catalyst for synergistically catalytic and highly efficient hydration of acetylene

At present, heterogeneous mercury-free catalysts are suffering from rapid deactivation caused by reduction or aggregation/growth of copper particle during preparation and reaction. Here, a high-performance and long-lived catalysts with activated carbon supported copper-ionic liquid system (Cu-xIL/AC, x is the molar ratio of IL and Cu) was prepared by wet impregnation method for the hydration of acetylene to acetaldehyde. Over the optimal Cu-1.5IL/AC catalyst, the acetylene conversion of 96.8% and acetaldehyde selectivity of 87.1% could still be obtained at 20 h (T = 240 °C, GHSVC2H2 = 90 h−1 and VH2O/VC2H2 = 1.15). The experimental results indicated that Cu species were embedded in ionic liquid (IL) and the interaction and synergistic effect between metal ions and IL guaranteed high and stable dispersion of active species on the host and suppress the reduction of active Cu specie, which are mainly responsible for the excellent catalytic property. The findings highlight the contribution of ILs in heterogeneous catalytic reaction and supply a promising industrial application of Cu-1.5IL/AC catalyst in acetylene hydration.