Hierarchical porous carbon from PVC plastic wastes with efficient catalytic performance for acetylene hydrochlorination

Abstract

The hierarchically porous carbon with abundant wrinkles (C-KOH) prepared from PVC plastic waste is adopted as a thermal catalyst support for acetylene hydrochlorination. The carbon materials of hierarchical porous structure and sp² hybridization with sp³ hybridization mixed structure would improve the proton transport efficiency and increase the palladium (Pd) species dispersion. The prepared Pd/C-KOH (1 : 1) catalyst was shown to exhibit the best catalytic performance, with 90.2% C₂H₂ conversion at 160 °C, GHSV(C₂H₂) = 120⁻¹ and V(HCl) : V(C₂H₂) = 1.25. Furthermore, the reduction of Pd²⁺, loss of Pd species and production of carbon deposits are the main reasons for catalyst deactivation, and this study provides a potential application for converting PVC plastic wastes into highly efficient acetylene hydrochlorination catalysts.