SILICA-SUPPORTED COPPER IRON CATALYSTS FOR HYDROGENOLYSIS REACTIONS CHARACTERIZED BY MOSSBAUER-SPECTROSCOPY

A special preparation procedure has been developed to provide a very u niform distribution of iron throughout the copper precursor supported on silica. The best performance for hydrogenolysis of methyl acetate h as been obtained for a catalyst prepared in a onestep procedure, in wh ich iron(III) and copper(II) were injected together into a suspension of silica at a constant pH level. It is found that the main part of th e iron has been incorporated into the formed copper hydrosilicate. Aft er reduction and under reaction conditions, only about 6% of the iron atoms are in the Fe-0 state. This Fe-0 is expected to be responsible f or the enhancement of the catalyst activity in hydrogenation and hydro genolysis reactions.