Alkene feedstocks are used to produce polymers with a market expected to reach 128.4 million metric tons by 2027. Butadiene is one of the impurities poisoning alkene polymerization catalysts and is usually removed by thermocatalytic selective hydrogenation. Excessive use of H₂, poor alkene selectivity and high operating temperature (e.g. up to 350 °C) remain the most significant drawbacks of the thermocatalytic process, calling for innovative alternatives. Here we report a room-temperature (25~30 °C) electrochemistry-assisted selective hydrogenation process in a gas-fed fixed bed reactor, using water as the hydrogen source. Using a palladium membrane as the catalyst, this process offers a robust catalytic performance for selective butadiene hydrogenation, with alkene selectivity staying around 92% at a butadiene conversion above 97% for over 360 h of time on stream. The overall energy consumption of this process is 0.003 Wh/mL_butadiene, which is thousands of times lower than that of the thermocatalytic route. This study proposes an alternative electrochemical technology for industrial hydrogenation without the need for elevated temperature and hydrogen gas.

烯烃原料用于生产聚合物，预计到 2027 年市场将达到 1.284 亿公吨。丁二烯是使烯烃聚合催化剂中毒的杂质之一，通常通过热催化选择性加氢去除。过量使用H ₂、烯烃选择性差和操作温度高（例如高达 350 °C）仍然是热催化过程的最显着缺点，需要创新的替代品。在这里，我们报告了在气体进料固定床反应器中使用水作为氢源的室温 (25~30 °C) 电化学辅助选择性加氢过程。该工艺使用钯膜作为催化剂，为选择性丁二烯加氢提供了强大的催化性能，在超过 360 小时的运行时间内，烯烃选择性在丁二烯转化率超过 97% 时保持在 92% 左右。该过程的总能耗为0.003 Wh/mL_丁二烯，比热催化路线低数千倍。本研究提出了一种无需高温和氢气即可用于工业加氢的替代电化学技术。