Abstract
Ethylene oxide (EO) degradation over Ag/α-Al2O3 catalysts involves bifunctional pathways, whereby α-Al2O3 surfaces catalyze hydration, isomerization, dimerization, and oxidation while Ag surfaces facilitate combustion and isomerization of ethylene oxide. EO degradation reactions run over Ag/α-Al2O3, α-Al2O3, and intrapellet mixtures thereof with co-feeds of O2 and oxygenate products show that Ag surfaces are more reactive than α-Al2O3 and that oxygenate products generated over α-Al2O3 combust over Ag much more (>30x) readily than EO. These observations suggest that additives which mitigate surface hydration of α-Al2O3 and combustion activity of Ag will most effectively mitigate EO degradation.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 714-720 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Journal of Catalysis |
Volume | 389 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2020 |
Keywords
- Ag
- Epoxidation
- Ethylene oxide
- Reaction pathways
- α-AlO