Hydrodechlorination of tetrachloromethane over silica-supported palladium-gold alloys

Compared with the monometallic palladium, bimetallic Pd-Au/SiO₂ catalysts show much higher activity and better stability in the reaction of hydrodechlorination of tetrachloromethane, also providing higher selectivity to longer than methane hydrocarbon products. Reasonably mixed Pd-Au particles show better catalytic performance during ~60 h operation, whereas the monometallic palladium and very rich in palladium catalysts suffer rapid deactivation. Smaller amounts of carbon- and chlorine-containing deposits found after reaction on Pd-Au catalysts correspond to their superior catalytic behavior.