Synthesis of Caprolactam using Ceria Impregnated and Cerium Ions Incorporated MCM-41Catalysts

Abstract

Mesoporous siliceous MCM-41 was synthesized by hydrothermal method. Cerium incorporated MCM-41 was synthesized by hydrothermal method using Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide as template. Various weight percentage of Ceria was loaded over MCM-41 by wet impregnation method. The synthesized catalysts were characterized using FT-IR, TGA, DRS-UV-Vis, N2 sorption, SEM and TEM techniques. XRD confirmed the mesoporous structure of the catalysts. The catalytic activity of the ceria impregnated MCM41 was evaluated in the synthesis of caprolactam from cyclohexanone oxime in the liquid phase condition. At that temperature 4 wt.% Ce impregnated SiMCM-41 produced high conversion (76.2%) and percentage yield (66.4%). The impregnated catalyst may contain more number of cerium present in the pores, so the lewis acid sites will be more and the conversion of cyclohexanone oxime into caprolactam will be high.