Light‐Assisted Semi‐Hydrogenation of 1,3‐Butadiene with Water

Sustainable processes for semi‐hydrogenation of alkynes/alkadienes impurities in alkenes feedstocks are in great demand in industry as the utilization of excessive hydrogen, high temperature and unsatisfactory alkenes selectivity of the current thermo‐catalytic route, however, their development is still challenging. Herein, we innovate a light‐assisted semi‐hydrogenation process in gas‐feed fixed bed reactor, with water as hydrogen atom source by in situ photocatalysis. Using Pd/TiO2 as model catalyst, this process shows an excellent catalytic performance for the semi‐hydrogenation of 1,3‐butadiene, with 100 % of butenes selectivity at ≈99 % of conversion over 180 h of reaction at ambient temperature driven by 66 mW cm−2 of irradiation intensity. This light‐driven, H2‐free, ambient temperature semi‐hydrogenation process, with superior performance to that of thermocatalytic route, shows attractive to bring an evolution in industrial hydrogenation technology to an economical and safe way. The challenges of high energy consumption and safety hazards of conventional thermocatalytic semi‐hydrogenation with an excess of H2 were solved by developing a light‐field assisted route in a fixed‐bed reactor, without H2, at room temperature. In comparison with the commercial catalyst, it shows superior catalytic performance in respect to activity, selectivity and stability, combined with high industrial applicability.