Kinetic Parameters for the Selective Hydrogenation of Acetylene on GaPd₂ and GaPd

Intermetallic GaPd₂ is a highly selective and stable catalyst for the semi-hydrogenation of acetylene. Knowledge of the underlying reaction kinetics is essential to gain a deeper understanding of the selective hydrogenation on this catalytic material. To date, there has been no experimental kinetic data published for this reaction on a well-defined intermetallic catalyst possessing isolated active sites. Kinetic measurements are performed at 140-200 °C, revealing an apparent activation energy of 29(2) kJ mol^-1 . GaPd₂ is shown to be the first binary catalyst material, which shows a positive reaction order (0.89) with respect to acetylene at 200 °C. The influences on the extent of acetylene conversion, specific activity and selectivity to ethylene, ethane, and higher hydrocarbons are determined by a 2⁴ factorial experiment following a design of experiments approach. Temperature and pressure have the strongest impact on these values. The results allow optimal operation for achieving high ethylene yields. A comparison of the reaction kinetics on GaPd₂ with experimental results obtained for GaPd reveals different orders of reaction of H₂ and C₂ H₂ on the two compounds.