Influence of atmosphere, interparticle distance and support on the stability of silver on α-alumina for ethylene epoxidation

The stability of supported metal particles is an important parameter in heterogenous catalysis. For silver catalysts on α-alumina, industrially used ethylene epoxidation, the loss surface area as result particle growth one most deactivation mechanisms. In this work, was investigated by exposing to thermal treatments. presence oxygen during heating strongly enhanced growth, and interparticle distance a crucial parameter. However, restricting movement complete using cage-like α-alumina did not limit growth. These findings indicate that Ostwald ripening dominant mechanism behind with diffusion oxidized species being rate limiting factor. Finally, higher provided better only limited decrease selectivity. This makes high promising candidates for epoxidation