Process of selectively hydrogenating gas mixture having high acetylene content

A selective hydrogenation method, comprising the steps of:

• step a) providing a gas mixture containing 2 to 10 mol % of acetylene, 50 to 75 mol % of hydrogen, 18 48 mol % of methane, and a concentration of C2 hydrocarbon other than acetylene being less than 1 mol %;
• step b) forming a hydrogenation product having an increased ethylene concentration compared to the gas mixture by hydrogenating the gas mixture in presence of a hydrogenation catalyst in which a first metal (M1) having hydrogenation activity and a second metal (M2) having a function of inducing selective hydrogenation are loaded on a porous support;
• and
• step c) separating and recovering ethylene and hydrogen from the hydrogenation product,
• in which the first metal (M1) is at least one selected from the group consisting of Pd, Pt, Rh, Ir, Ni, and Co, and the second metal (M2) is at least one selected from the group consisting of Cu, Ag, Au, Zn, Ga, and Sn, and
• amounts of the first metal (M1) and the second metal (M2) in the hydrogenation catalyst are 0.15 to 2 wt % and 0.8 to 30 wt %, respectively, and satisfy Equation 1 below:
• 3
• ≤
• W
• M
• ⁢
• 2
• W
• M
• ⁢
• 1
• <
• 20
• [
• Equation
• ⁢
• 1
• ]
• wherein WM1 is a wt % of the first metal in the hydrogenation catalyst and WM2 is a wt % of the second metal in the hydrogenation catalyst.