Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) have been widely used for their excellence as aerosol propellents, refrigerants, cleaning solvents and foam blowing agents. However, it is now appreciated that CFCs have a harmful effect on the stratospheric ozone layer, with one CFC molecule being able to decompose up to 10* ozone molecules, thus severely damaging the protection which the ozone layer affords the earth's surface against UV radiation. Therefore it has been internationally agreed to cease CFC production by 1996, except as chemical precursors. As a result it has become important to provide compounds which have similar technical properties to those of CFCs but which are environmentally acceptable.

For some 40% of the former demand for CFCs, the only alternatives which are practical with current technology are HCFCs and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and these can best be synthesised by replacing chlorine in CFCs by hydrogen. Catalysts that have been proposed for this process include palladium chloride supported on activated carbon (JP 01,319,442 25 December 1989) or a 5% loading of palladium on activated carbon (UK Patent 1578933) or palladium supported on aluminium fluoride (European Patent Application 328127) or palladium supported on alumina (German Offen. 3917575). A problem with these catalytic systems is that the conversion yield of CFCs to HFCs is very low, typically around 5% and deactivate after a relatively short time, such as 2 hours. These palladium systems are also used to produce HFCs by removing chlorine from the

alternative feedstock of chlorofluorohydrocarbons (e.g. HCFC-124, CHFC1CF ₃ ).

According to the present invention, there is provided a method of replacing halogen in halo-substituted hydrocarbon by hydrogen, comprising exposing the halo-substituted hydrocarbon to a catalyst in the presence of a source of hydrogen, the catalyst comprising a catalytic metal, characterised in that the catalyst also comprises a material which either has a greater affinity for halogen than has the catalytic metal, or stabilises the zero oxidation state of the catalytic metal, or both, so as to resist adsorption of halogen on the catalytic metal surface. Preferably the catalytic metal is palladium, platinum, rhodium, ruthenium, silver, gold or gallium, especially palladium and/or platinum. Preferably the said material contains metal different from the catalytic metal, such as zinc, aluminium, silver, platinum, nickel, gold or gallium, and it may further contain combined oxygen, thus comprising or derived from an oxide, nitrate or organometallic compound such as a salt, e.g. carboxylate e.g. acetate, an especially effective combination being palladium and zinc (preferably as a zinc-oxgyen compound). Preferably the molar ratio of catalyst metal to material is from 10:1 to 1:1, such as from 5:1 to 2:1. The catalyst may be supported on an inert carrier such as alumina, preferably having a surface area of at least 50 m^/g. The method is preferably performed at a temperature of from 280 to 450°C, such as from 350 to 435°C, especially 400-425°C. At low temperatures, halo-substituted hydrocarbons tend to remain unreacted, while at excessive temperatures, they can react with the catalyst support.

Reactions especially amenable to the catalytic method set forth above are those wherein the halosubstituted carbon is a hydrochlorofluorocarbon or a chlorofluorocarbon, especially wherein chlorine rather than fluorine is replaced by hydrogen, and, if suitably carried out, the main product of the method according to the invention can indeed be a fluorocarbon or a hydrofluorocarbon, i.e. all the chlorine has been replaced by hydrogen. Most suitably, the hydrocarbon is aliphatic, e.g. an alkane, e.g. methane

or ethane, and thus a typical method according to the invention would be to convert CCI2F-CCIF2 to CH3-CF3 (an isomerisation does appear to occur).

The invention also extends to the catalyst as set forth above. By providing the said material in the catalyst, the surface of the catalytic metal has low affinity for halogen freed from the halocarbon during hydrogenation. An important factor in the low yields obtained with previously proposed catalysts is that the active sites on the palladium surface become occupied by halogen or hydrogen halide, with consequent lessening of the catalytic effect of the palladium; the active sites are shielded from the reactants in the hydrogenation. With the catalyst of the present invention, the halogen or hydrogen halide released in the hydrogenation is attracted preferentially to the said material instead of to the catalytic metal, so the active sites on the latter remain available to the reactants for a longer time.

The components of the catalyst may be in the form of an alloy or close admixture, but other types of combination may also prove useful. The invention will now be described by way of illustration in the following Examples. Example 1

The catalyst of this embodiment of the invention was prepared as follows: lg of Degussa 'C γ-alumina support (to give high surface area) was impregnated with 5 wt% of palladium nitrate (50 mg) and a two-fold stoichiometric amount of zinc using zinc oxide (70 mg). The resultant cake was broken up and loaded into a Pyrex reactor tube where it was calcined at 503K for 6 hours followed by reduction or partial reduction at 503K for 18 hours with a 9:1 mixture of dinitrogen and dihydrogen flowing at 100 ml in" ¹ . After this reduction, which is believed to give rise to a zinc oxide which is rich in elemental zinc especially at the surface, the reactor temperature was increased to 773K for 4 hours prior to cooling to room temperature.

1 ,1 ,2-Trichlorotrifluoroethane (CFC-113) was passed over the resulting amount of catalyst at 513K with a mass flow of 96 microlitres rnin" ¹ together with a stoichiometric excess of dihydrogen, and the reactor eluant was analysed by online gas chromatographic facilities. The analysis showed the presence of 1 ,1 ,2-trifluoroethane and 1-chloro-l ,2,2-trifluoroethane. The conversion from the CFC-113 was greater than 60%, and the catalyst performed at this rate of conversion over a period of 48 hours and beyond without any substantial loss of activity. Hydrogen chloride released in the hydrogenation of the CFC-113 is adsorbed on the zinc of the catalyst to form zinc chloride, in preference to adsorption on the palladium. The high yield is obtained by virtue of the palladium remaining free of this contaminant and continuing to provide active sites for the reactants. The zinc chloride can subsequently be reduced to reconstitute the zinc metal in the catalyst. Examples 2-7

In all these Examples (except 6, which is a comparative example where no palladium was used), the catalyst was Pd/ZnO/γ-Al ₂ θ3 (or Pd/Zn acetate/γ-Al ₂ 0 ₃ ) .

Palladium nitrate hydrate was used as the precursor for the catalysts. The catalyst support was gamma alumina having a surface area of 110 m ² /g. Zinc oxide or zinc acetate dihydrate was added to improve catalyst performance. The amount of palladium nitrate hydrate shown in the Table together with 1 gram of gamma alumina and the appropriate zinc compound were weighed into an evaporating dish and dissolved in 10 ml of deionised distilled water. The solution was then dried on a heating mantel. The resulting cake was ground with an agate pestle and mortar prior to calcination.

TABLE

EXAMPLE MOLE RATIO Y-AI 2O3 Pd( N0 ₃ ) ₂ xH2θ ZnO/Zn(ac) ₂ (H2θ) ₂

(grams ) (grams ) (grams)

2 Pd : ZnO=l : 2 1 .000 0.108 0.076

3 Pd : ZnO=l : l 1 .000 0.108 0.038

4 Pd : ZnO=2 : l 1 .000 0.108 0.019

5 Pd :ZnO=l :4 1 .000 0.108 0.152

6 No Pd 1 .000 - 0.076

7 Zn(ac) 2 used 1 .000 0.108 0.205

1 gram of the impregnated catalyst was placed in a reaction tube and was first calcined at 450°C for 6 hours, under 10% hydrogen in oxygen-free nitrogen, flowing at a rate of 30 ml/min. The calcination was followed by treatment for 16 hours at 230°C under 10% hydrogen in oxgyen-free nitrogen, flowing at a rate of 30 ml/min, then recalcination at 450 ^β C for 6 hours under 10% hydrogen in oxygen-free nitrogen, flowing at a rate of 30 ml/min. Finally the catalyst was held under 10% hydrogen in oxgyen-free nitrogen at 230°C. This treatment reduced or partially reduced the zinc compound.

Oxygen-free nitrogen was set at a rate of 13.5 ml/min flowing through a reservoir containing the CFC 113 feed (CCI2F-CCIF2). This gave a trichlorotrifluoroethane flow rate of 43 μl/min. Hydrogen flow through the bed was set at 1.5 ml/min.

The reactor pressure was maintained at 900 torr. Runs were performed with the catalyst bed at various temperatures from 70 to 450°C. The performance of each catalyst is shown in the following tables:-

EXAMPLE 2

1 Df the reacted products,

1percentage which was:

TEMPERATURE °C CONVERSION of feedstock HFC 143a HCFC 133a OTHERS

CFC 113 CF ₃ CH ₃ CF ₃ -CH ₂ C1 (CC12FCC1F2)

70 0.00 - - -

115 0.00 - - -

152 0.49 100.00 - -

168 0.54 100.00 - -

196 1.70 100.00 - -

200 3.88 100.00 - -

230 4.62 100.00 - -

250 4.63 100.00 - -

275 5.62 99.32 0.68 -

300 9.18 88.55 11.45 -

316 8.22 85.89 14.03 0.09

360 10.69 69.12 16.90 13.98

375 18.52 43.95 44.04 12.01

400 66.14 29.38 64.26 6.35

450 95.30 22.92 70.91 6.17

EXAMPLE 3

Of the reacted products, percentage whic:h was:

TEMPERATURE CONVERSION % HFC 143a HCFC 133a HCFC 123a OTHERS °C CHCIF-CCIF3

280 15 .99 38. .82 59.76 1.42 -

330 12 .91 15. .34 82.53 2.13 -

370 19 .06 8. .95 83.16 5.26 2.63

385 20 .58 30, .23 59.17 5.42 5.17

390 42 .90 64. .45 22.07 7.38 6.10

400 49 .60 67. .72 14.40 10.15 7.73

EXAMPLE 4

Of the reacted products , percentage which was : TEMPERATURE CONVERSION % HFC 143a HCFC 133a HCFC 123a OTHERS ^β C

230 7.19 10.83 18.94 54.14 16.08

280 8.39 4.81 17.34 58.04 19.81

330 10.09 3.22 11 .45 57.21 28.10

380 19.79 2.67 2.67 34.66 60.00

EXAMPLE 5

Of the reacted products, percentage which was:

TEMPERATURE °C CONVERSION % HFC 143a HCFC 133a HCFC 123a

280 61 .93 98.41 - 1 .59

330 77.14 98.11 0.55 1 .26

380 83.13 97.00 1 .86 1 .14

400 83.85 93.77 4.4? 1 .81

420 94.55 85.14 13.42 1 .43

450 97.96 93.93 3.18 2.89

EXAMPLE 6 (comparative)

1 gram of the ZnO/γ-Al2θ ₃ catalyst, with no palladium, was calcined and reacted as described. The catalyst bed was maintained at temperatures between 230 and 420°C. No hydrodechlorinated products were detected. A white powdery deposit was observed on the reaction tube when working at catalyst bed temperatures in the region of 230-300°C. This was suspected to be a zinc halide, possibly ZnCl as its boiling point is in this region.

EXAMPLE 7

Of the reacted products, percentage which was:

TEMPERATURE °C CONVERSION % HFC 143a HCFC 133a

230 95.27 58.82 41 .18

280 96.92 73.56 26.44

380 97.83 77.77 22.23

400 94.21 84.21 15.79

420 91 .83 91 .48 8.52

450 88.28 92.19 7.81

1 gram of Pd/C catalyst (Aldrich 5% palladium on activated carbon) was calcined at 230°C for 2 hours and reacted as described in UK Patent 1578933. Eluant samples were taken on a half hourly basis. Initially a conversion of 4-5% was obtained; however after just 2 hours the catalyst became deactivated and the reaction ceased. The conversion efficiency of a catalyst according to the present invention, on the other hand, showed a deactivation rate of 0.6% per hour and thus remained at at least half its original value for 20-25 hours, then falling more sharply to around 4% at 30 hours.