Mesoporous silica gel doped with terbium, cerium and modified with silver as an efficient and selective catalyst for hydrogenation of unsaturated hydrocarbons

Catalysts based on mesoporous silica gel doped with cerium, terbium and modified with silver (Ce–Ag/MPS, Tb–Ag/MPS) were obtained by the template method. The physicochemical characteristics of the obtained catalyst were studied by low-temperature nitrogen adsorption–desorption, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and IR spectrometry. The possibility of using the obtained samples as effective and selective catalysts for the hydrogenation of 1-hexyne/1-hexene and 1-heptyne/1-heptene hydrocarbon mixtures (with 30% alkyne content) in the temperature range of 130–160 °C and a hydrogen pressure of 3 atm was studied. It was found that the Tb–Ag/MPS catalyst is more effective, maintaining alkene selectivity with increasing hydrogenation temperature.