Abstract
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 novel gold palladium heteropolyacid catalysts. These new catalysts have been protected by a patent filing. The key feature of these catalysts is that they can be used in water as solvent at ambient temperature whereas all previous catalysts require low temperatures and organic solvents. Initial results show the new catalyst is over fifteen times as active as the current equivalent commercial catalyst. Funding is requested to complete patent exemplification and to ensure commercial exploitation can be achieved.
Planned Impact
The proposed research is aimed at optimizing and developing a new discovery relating to the manufacture of hydrogen peroxide based on the direct reaction of hydrogen and oxygen under intrinsically safe conditions, using a new catalyst. Our initial discovery has shown that we make catalysts that are exceptionally more active than previously prepared materials for this reaction. The potential of our novel method of preparing high activity catalysts for the production of H2O2 will be demonstrated in both batch and continuous flow reactors, and commercialisation is first focused at one specific market of H2O2 production under dilute reactant conditions. However we would like to stress that the benefits of the technology could be extended to a broad range of industrially-important uses of H2O2 in which the reagent is used (or captured) in situ and this has potential to be used across different industries, from pharmaceuticals to petrochemicals. The current world production of H2O2 is >3M tonnes/annum with a growth rate of 6-8% per annum. Consequently this important new class of catalytic materials has a huge market potential. We aim to interact with companies that manufacture or use hydrogen peroxide to ensure commercialization. Our new patented method that has been discovered as part of cutting edge research as part of the EPSRC funded project EP/G007101/1 DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHLY ACTIVE AND SELECTIVE GOLD PALLADIUM ALLOY CATALYSTS AIDED BY MICROREACTION TECHNOLOGY now provides a crucial breakthrough that will permit commercialization to be achieved. In particular we envisage our catalyst technology will have the following key advantages: 1) Improved efficiency of the catalyst - Currently we were able to produce a catalyst that is over 10 times more effective than the current industrial palladium based catalyst, and we believe this could be further improved by optimisation of the production process. The increased efficiency means that the catalyst can be used in both the production of hydrogen peroxide or it can be used in tandem process in which the hydrogen peroxide that is produced is captured in situ to produce chemical intermediates. The increased efficiency is due to the key observation that we have discovered a way to switch off hydrogen peroxide decomposition. 2) Novel use of water as solvent - We aim to be able to tailor design catalysts for particular applications and this tuning will be identified using the experimental results obtained from the initial part of the work. For example, the new catalysts can be used in water and this opens up the scope for the direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide as dilute solutions in water ready for use at the concentration required. The current commercial process uses non-green organic solvents. 3) Environmental aspect - Traditional procedures for the preparation of hydrogen peroxide have unsustainably high levels of water, require expensive solvents and energy consumption and the need for the change to more resource-saving techniques is paramount for industry to stay competitive. Moreover, our technology will permit higher selectivities to be achieved with high rates under intrinsically safe conditions and our technology now offers a viable environmentally-friendly and resource-saving alternative to the traditional methods. The work in this follow on funded project will focus on two key aspects (1) supporting the patent application by providing the detailed patent exemplification, (2) ensuring commercial exploitation of the discovery by interaction with industry. The work will therefore have a major impact on the industrial sector, both in terms of companies that manufacture and supply heterogeneous catalysts as well as companies that use these heterogeneous catalysts in the manufacture of hydrogen peroxide, a major commodity chemical. The successful outcome of this research will enable a new way of making hydrogen peroxide to be commercially realised.
