Abstract
Abstract In the present study, transalkylation of 1,4-diispropylbenzene (DIPB) with benzene in the presence of modified beta zeolite was performed to produce cumene in a fixed bed reactor. Beta zeolite was exchanged with cerium in order to modify its catalytic activity. Activity of the modified catalyst was evaluated in the range of temperature 493K-593K, space time 4.2 kg h/kmol-9.03 kg h/k mol and benzene/1,4-DIPB molar ratio 1-15 to maximize the reactant conversion and selectivity of cumene. The activity and selectivity of the modified catalyst was found to increase with increase in cerium loading. Maximum selectivity of cumene (83.82%) was achieved at 573 K, benzene/1,4-DIPB 5:1 at one atmosphere pressure. A suitable kinetic model for this reaction was proposed from the product distribution pattern following the Langmuir-Hinshelwood approach. Applying non-linear regression, the model parameters were estimated. The activation energy for the transalkylation reaction was found to be 116.53 kJ/mol.
Highlights
Cumene is a colorless liquid, known as cumol or isopropyl benzene having the boiling-range motor fuel of high antiknock value
The combined alkylation and transalkylation was performed for alkyl aromatic production to evaluate the performance of different catalysts like MCM-22 and beta zeolite based on their Si/Al ratio, selectivity, and pore size for liquid phase production of cumene (Perego and Ingallina, 2004)
H-beta zeolite was successfully modified with cerium and it was found that activity and selectivity of the cerium-modified zeolite was higher than the parent zeolite due to the presence of strong acid sites in the exchanged zeolite. 94.69% conversion of 1,4-DIPB was obtained over CeB10 zeolite with 8.3 wt% Ce content, at 573 K and a benzene to 1,4-DIPB reactant ratio of 5:1
Summary
Cumene is a colorless liquid, known as cumol or isopropyl benzene having the boiling-range motor fuel of high antiknock value. The combined alkylation and transalkylation was performed for alkyl aromatic production to evaluate the performance of different catalysts like MCM-22 and beta zeolite based on their Si/Al ratio, selectivity, and pore size for liquid phase production of cumene (Perego and Ingallina, 2004). The catalysts such as zeolite X, MCM-22, MCM-49, PSH-3, SSZ-25, zeolite Y, beta zeolite (Yeh et al, 2008; Barger et al, 1989; Huang et al, 1997) were used in transalkylation reaction. A further objective of this study was to develop a suitable kinetic model for the synthesis reactions
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