Abstract: A series of sulfuric acid modified attapulgite supported Ni-B amorphous alloy catalysts were prepared by chemical reduction method. The obtained catalysts were characterized by XRD, TEM, XPS and BET. The effect of catalyst preparation conditions and reaction conditions on the selective hydrogenation of maleic anhydride to γ-butyrolactone was investigated. Results showed that over Ni-B/PAL-8 catalyst, under the conditions of a reaction temperature of 200℃, a reaction pressure of 3 MPa and a reaction time of 2 h, the conversion of maleic anhydride reached 100% and the selectivity to γ-butyrolactone was 97.1%. The high activity of Ni-B/PAL-8 catalyst could be attributed to the rod-like and needle-like structure of the sulfuric acid modified attapulgite support and the relatively high surface area of the catalyst.

Key words: attapulgite, Ni-B amorphous alloy catalyst, maleic anhydride, γ-butyrolactone, selective hydrogenation