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Conversion of Phenol to Cyclohexanone Using Nanofiber Supported Catalysts

Abutaleb , Ahmed Alhassan
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1444144338

Abstract Details

, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, Chemical Engineering.
ABSTRACT Cyclohexanone is an important chemical intermediate that is used to produce nylon6 and nylon66. There are two main routes to manufacture cyclohexanone 1) cyclohexane oxidation and 2) phenol hydrogenation. The cyclohexane production method has a very low yield due to the production of undesirable byproducts. These undesirable byproducts are generated because of high pressure and temperature reaction conditions. Purification of cyclohexanone from cyclohexanol byproduct is costly and difficult due to their close structures and boiling points. Cyclohexanone can be manufactured through selective hydrogenation of phenol in gas phase or liquid phase. Mild operating conditions are used to hydrogenate phenol. Higher conversion and selectivity are achieved when using the phenol route. The liquid phase hydrogenation of phenol is more preferable than the gas phase because it is safer, cheaper, and has higher selectivity. However; cyclohexanone selectivity is still a major challenge in this production route. One way to enhance the conversion and selectivity of the liquid phase hydrogenation of phenol is by using a very active and selective catalyst. The goal of this research is to fabricate and test fibrous catalytic membranes made up of polymeric and ceramic fibers. Different ceramic and polymeric fibrous catalysts were prepared by the technique of electrospinning. Palladium, platinum and a mixture of platinum and iridium were immobilized on aluminum oxide (Al2O3), titanium oxide (TiO2), polyetherimide (PEI) and poly (vinylidene fluoride hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP). These catalytic fiber media were characterized using SEM, TEM, XRD, DSI, and TGA. The catalytic performance was tested using batch and flow reactors. Experimental results indicated that supported polymeric catalysts performed much better than ceramic catalysts. Among all tested catalysts, the results proved that palladium is the most selective catalyst and PVDF-HFP is the best catalytic support. Immobilizing catalytic nanoparticles on PVDF-HFP was easier than PEI since electrospinning of PVDF-HFP is easier. Nearly complete phenol conversion and cyclohexanone selectivity was achieved when using Pd/PVDF-HFP. The Metal/PVDF-HFP was then used in a flow system. Highly selective continuous production of cyclohexanone was achieved. This is a very important result because, to the best of our knowledge, all the research on phenol hydrogenation has been limited to studies on batch processes. A new multiphase flow reactor that is able to deliver hydrogen and phenol to the catalyst without any gas-liquid contact was built. The new reactor separates the aqueous liquid and gas reactants from each other utilizing the hydrophobicity of the support. The reactor showed better performance than the counter current membrane reactor since the new reactor reduces the number of reaction steps by eliminating some of the mass transfer limitations.
GEORGE CHASE, PROF. (Advisor)
Chemical Engineering

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Abutaleb , A. A. (n.d.). Conversion of Phenol to Cyclohexanone Using Nanofiber Supported Catalysts [Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1444144338

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Abutaleb , Ahmed. Conversion of Phenol to Cyclohexanone Using Nanofiber Supported Catalysts. University of Akron, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1444144338.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Abutaleb , Ahmed. "Conversion of Phenol to Cyclohexanone Using Nanofiber Supported Catalysts." Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron. Accessed APRIL 25, 2024. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1444144338

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

akron1444144338
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© , some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Conversion of Phenol to Cyclohexanone Using Nanofiber Supported Catalysts by Ahmed Alhassan Abutaleb is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by University of Akron and OhioLINK.