From E‐Waste Solution to Acetylene Hydrochlorination Mercury‐Free Catalysts

ABSTRACT Non‐Hg catalyst is vital for the cleaner production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), whereas the usual pure metal or pure metal salt precursor is too expensive for non‐Hg catalysts preparation. Herein, a relatively cheap electronic waste (E‐waste) leaching solution was employed as precursor to prepare acetylene hydrochlorination catalyst (EWC) for the first time. Resultantly, relatively better catalytic performance than that of pure metal salt‐based catalysts was achieved on EWC. Additionally, Au, Ni, Sn, and S could play a positive role than other coexisting ions, whereas other elements would hardly have any impact at all. After Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), x‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and H 2 ‐temperature‐programmed reduction (TPR) studies, it was proved that catalytic performance of EWC is mainly attributed to the efficient dispersion effect of other metals on active species like copper. Moreover, density functional theory (DFT) study further revealed that other metal components “solvent” role hindered the agglomeration of the active Cu component. This study offered a new route for decreasing the cost of vinyl chloride monomers (VCMs) in non‐Hg preparation.