Abstract: The use of clay minerals in the synthesis of nanosized noble metal particles to give increased catalytic activity was investigated. Nanosized platinum and ruthenium catalysts intercalated in clay (montmorillonite/hectorite) were synthesised and their catalytic activity was evaluated for the selective hydrogenation of three different α,β-unsaturated aldehydes, namely, crotonaldehyde, cinnamaldehyde, and citral, in a gas phase microreactor. The metal nano-sol was prepared by the chemical reduction of its precursor by the micellar technique in the presence of cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB), and the micelle stabilized metal particles were intercalated in the clay mineral by ion exchange. TEM micrographs of the catalyst particles showed that the metal particles were in the nanometre range. The average diameters of the particles were 1–25 nm. The effects of temperature, metal loading, and hydrogen flow rate on the catalytic activity and selectivity for α,β- unsaturated alcohol were studied. The results were correlated with the structural properties of the catalysts. The products formed in each reaction over the different catalysts showed that the catalysts were very active for hydrogenation, and the selectivity for the desired product, namely, α,β-unsaturated alcohol, was good. The metal catalysts intercalated in montmorillonite showed better selectivity than that in hectorite because of its higher acidity. Increased selectivity for α,β-unsaturated alcohol was observed with increased flow rate of hydrogen.

Key words: selective hydrogenation, nano-particle, platinum, ruthenium, intercalated montmorillonite or hectorite, vapor phase reaction