(544ft) Hydrogenation of Phenol to Cyclohexanone Via Tubular Nanofiber Supported Catalyst

Hydrogenation of phenol to
cyclohexanone via tubular nanofiber supported catalyst

Lin Pan and G. G. Chase

Abstract

Cyclohexanone is the key
intermediate in the manufacture of nylon-6 and nylon-66. The hydrogenation of
phenol process is commonly used in industry due to the lower temperature
requirement and less byproducts generation compared with the oxidation of
cyclohexane¹. The liquid phase reaction is preferred in our work
because the operation conditions are easier to establish and control in a laboratory
environment. Researchers have evaluated many catalysts for use in liquid phase
phenol hydrogenation. The catalysts have been applied as dispersed particles in
the liquid as a pseudo homogeneous reaction and the catalyst particles have
been immobilized on monolithic support structures for heterogeneous reaction.

To our knowledge no previous
research has evaluated the performance of catalyst supported on a gas-liquid
barrier porous membrane. The porous membrane is in the form of a hollow tube
through electrospinning technique. As evaporation happened, the surface cools
and result in thermal dominated phase transfer. High humidity in the air hence has
an important influence on the morphology of electrospun
fibers, even pores can be produced (Figure 1). In our previous research, we
achieved a 70% conversion and 100% selectivity through tubular reactor (Figure 2)
by using fine PVDF-HFP nanofiber supported catalyst membrane. The objective of
this work is to immobilize catalyst on these porous polymer fibers which is
expected could improve the reaction performance.

Figure 1. High humidity electrospun porous nanofibers

Figure 2. Designed reactor of
tubular hydrogenation reactor

Reference

1.     Liu, Huizhen, et al. "Selective phenol hydrogenation to
cyclohexanone over a dual supported Pd–Lewis acid
catalyst." Science 326.5957 (2009): 1250-1252.