Vapor-Phase Alkylation of Phenol with Tert-butyl Alcohol Catalyzed by H3PO4/MCM-41

✍ Scribed by Mehran GHIACI; Behzad AGHABARARI

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2010
• Weight: 281 KB
• Volume: 31
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1872-2067
• DOI: 10.1016/s1872-2067(09)60085-1

✦ Synopsis

The catalytic performance of Al-MCM-41 containing 5-35 wt% H 3 PO 4 was studied for the vapor-phase alkylation of phenol with tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) from 383 to 493 K. 4-Tert-butyl phenol was produced as the main product with moderate selectivity. The product distribution depends on the reaction temperature, number of acid sites, and the Brönsted to Lewis sites ratios. A lower molar ratio of reactants (TBA/phenol = 2) and a higher space velocity facilitated the production of 4-tert-butyl phenol. The influence of various parameters such as temperature, reactant feed molar ratio, feed rate, and time on stream were investigated for conversion yield and product selectivity.