NEW CATALYSTS FOR HYDROGEN PEROXIDE PRODUCTION

The aim is to exploit a recent discovery concerning the production of a new high activity catalyst for use in the production of hydrogen peroxide from the direct reaction between hydrogen and oxygen using pretreated supported gold-palladium alloy catalysts. The methodology uses a pretreatement of the support which switches off the sequential decomposition of hydrogen peroxide under reaction conditions thereby enabling very high selectivities to the desired hydrogen peroxide to be achieved together with high rates of production. Initial results show the new catalyst is over six times as active as the current equivalent commercial catalyst and retains complete specificity for hydrogen peroxide formation. Funding is requested to complete patent exemplification and to ensure commercial exploitation can be achieved.