Selective Vapour Phase Oxidation of Benzyl Alcohol to Benzaldehyde over Mesoporous Ceria–Zirconia Solid Solution Synthesized Via a Facile Citrate Route

Abstract

In this article, a facile solid state mixing of precursors with citric acid was employed for the synthesis of mesoporous ceria–zirconia solid solution (CZ), which further require a thermal treatment alone for the material development. The ceria and zirconia nanocrystals were also prepared by the same solid state mixing method. The as-synthesized samples were characterized by means of various structural and textural studies. The results depicted that the presence of citric acid is desired for the formation of a perfect CZ solid solution with microflake like morphology. It has an enhanced role in the determination of crystalline size, phase purity, morphology, surface area and pore parameters of the as-synthesized samples. The active phase over the CZ samples was found to be tetragonal. The selective vapour phase oxidation of benzyl alcohol (BzOH) to benzaldehyde was effectively carried in a fixed bed reactor in moderate air flow over the redox catalysts with a maximum BzOH conversion of 80 % with substantial durability and reusability.