Selective hydrogenation of citral over noble metals intercalated montmorillonite catalysts

Surfactant stabilized platinum and ruthenium nano particles were intercalated into the interlamellar space of montmorillonite. The XRD patterns of the metal intercalated montmorillonite reveal that there was a significant swelling during the intercalation of surfactant stabilized metal particles without affecting the crystallinity of montmorillonite. The success of the synthesis of nano particles into montmorillonite catalysts was confirmed from the TEM micrographs of the catalytic materials. The TEM micrographs clearly indicated well dispersion of particles and the average diameter (in nm) of the intercalated metal particles were also determined. The catalytic activity and selectivity of these newly developed catalysts towards the selective hydrogenation of citral in liquid phase was found to be appreciable. The conversion levels were found to be 38% and 18% at 30 degrees C and increased to 61% and 46% at 100 degrees C over Pt-CTA-MM 2 and Ru-CTA-MM 2 catalysts respectively at 9 bar hydrogen pressure. The best selectivity towards geraniol and nerol was observed to be 61% over Pt-CTA-MM 2 among the catalysts studied. The effect of temperature, hydrogen pressure, amount of catalyst and time on stream on the conversion and selectivity towards geraniol and nerol were also discussed in detail.