Selective Hydrogenation of Citral over a Carbon‐titania Composite Supported Palladium Catalyst

A novel carbon‐titania composite material, C/TiO₂, has been prepared by growing carbon nanofibers (CNFs) on TiO₂ surface via methane decomposition using Ni‐Cu as a catalyst. The C/TiO₂ was used for preparing supported palladium catalyst, Pd/C/TiO₂. The support and Pd/C/TiO₂ catalyst were characterized by BET, SEM, XRD and TG‐DTG. Its catalytic performance was evaluated in selective hydrogenation of citral to citronellal, and compared with that of activated carbon supported Pd catalyst. It was found that the Pd/C/TiO₂ catalyst contains 97% of mesopores. And it exhibited 88% of selectivity to citronellal at citral conversion of 90% in citral hydrogenation, which was much higher than that of activated carbon supported Pd catalyst. This result may be attributed to elimination of internal diffusion limitations, which were significant in activated carbon supported Pd catalyst, due to its microporous structure.