DEHYDROGENATION OF ETHANOL TO ACETALDEHYDE OVER ACTIVATED CARBON CATALYSTS

Abstract

This research focused on investigation of the characteristic and catalytic activity of activated carbon derived deoiled rice bran using chemical activation with zinc chloride by various activation temperatures as catalyst for the ethanol dehydrogenation. It was found that activated carbons derived deoiled rice bran are presented of both microporous and mesoporous. These activated carbons derived deoiled rice bran act mainly as ethanol dehydrogenation catalyst which produced acetaldehyde as the main product, probably due to presence of zinc residue from preparation activated carbon. Furthermore, activated carbon (commercial grade) used as catalyst support for nickel catalyst on the ethanol dehydrogenation was also investigated. It was found that nickel distribution on the commercial activated carbon was good. Loading nickel onto activated carbon increases the catalytic activity for ethanol dehydrogenation towards acetaldehyde. In addition, nickel catalyst supported on commercial activated carbon showed higher ethanol conversion than nickel catalyst supported on activated carbon derived rice bran, which might be attributed to the aggregation of nickel into large crystalline.