In Situ XANES Studies on Pd-Cu/ZSM-5 Catalysts for Hydroxylation of Benzene to Phenol

摘要

Phenol is a valuable intermediate for the synthesis of petrochemicals. The predominant route for manufacturing phenol is the cumene process, in which phenol and acetone are produced in equimolar amounts. The disadvantage of this multistep process is the inevitability of high acetone production as a coproduct resulting in an oversupply of the market. This is the driving force to search for new catalytic processes which enable a one-step selective oxidation of benzene to phenol [1]. In this study, we use a continuous gas phase plug flow reactor to determine the performance of Cu/ZSM-5 in the oxidation of benzene to phenol with O2/H2 mixture. In-situ XANES studies of the catalysts provide the insight into the active phase of the Cu/ZSM-5 in the hydroxylation of benzene.