Effect of Alkali Carbonate/Bicarbonate on Citral Hydrogenation over Pd/Carbon Molecular Sieves Catalysts in Aqueous Media

The efficient citral hydrogenation was achieved in aqueous media using Pd/CMS and alkali additives like K2CO3. The alkali concentrations, reaction temperature and the Pd metal content were optimized to enhance the citral hydrogenation under aqueous media. In the absence of alkali, citral hydrogenation was low and addition of alkali promoted to ~92% hydrogenation without reduction in the selectivity to citronellal. The alkali addition appears to be altered the palladium sites. The pore size distribution reveals that the pore size of these catalysts is in the range of 0.96 to 0.7 nm. The palladium active sites are also quite uniform based on the TPR data. The catalytic parameters are correlated well with the activity data. Corresponding author.