A One-Step Conversion of Benzene to Phenol with a Palladium Membrane

Abstract

Existing phenol production processes tend to be energy-consuming and produce unwanted by-products. We report an efficient process using a shell-and-tube reactor, in which a gaseous mixture of benzene and oxygen is fed into a porous alumina tube coated with a palladium thin layer and hydrogen is fed into the shell. Hydrogen dissociated on the palladium layer surface permeates onto the back and reacts with oxygen to give active oxygen species, which attack benzene to produce phenol. This one-step process attained phenol formation selectivities of 80 to 97% at benzene conversions of 2 to 16% below 250 degrees C (phenol yield: 1.5 kilograms per kilogram of catalyst per hour at 150 degrees C).

Facile Synthesis of Vanadium Oxide/Reduced Graphene Oxide Composite Catalysts for Enhanced Hydroxylation of Benzene to Phenol

“…The direct hydroxylation of benzene to phenol has attracted much attention as an alternative method of phenol production. Studies on the direct hydroxylation of benzene using a variety of oxidants, such as nitrous oxide [3,4], hydrogen peroxide [5,6], molecular oxygen [7,8], and a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen [9], have been reported by numerous researchers. Among these oxidants, hydrogen peroxide has a distinct advantage because of the only by-product of water, which would be one of the most useful processes in the future.…”

Vibrational spectroscopy of intermediates in benzene-to-pheno conversion by FeO+

“…Thus, direct conversion of benzene to phenol has attracted great attention due to its economical and industrial importance. Promising direct benzene-phenol oxidation techniques include Fe-doped ZSM-5 zeolites with N 2 O as the oxidant [2,3] and direct oxidation using O 2 and H 2 through a Pd membrane [4]. Some bacteria can directly convert benzene to phenol under mild conditions using toluene monooxygenases, which have a di-iron active site [5].…”

Catalytic Hydroxylation of Benzene to Phenol with Hydrogen Peroxide over Cesium Salts of Keggin-type Heteropoly Acids

“…In the present case, the released heteropolyanions in the solution were detected with UV-Vis spectroscopy. The absorption band of 5 …”

“…Thus, one-step process for the production of phenol by direct oxidation of benzene attracts much attention in the recent years. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] Heteropoly acids (HPAs) and their related compounds have been used as catalysts in many acid and redox reactions. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16] HPAs have several advantages as catalysts, e.g.…”