The kinetics of dehydrogenation, cyclization, and isomerization
steps in n-butylbenzene
dehydrocyclization over precoked chromia−alumina has been
investigated at 683−783 K.
Apparent kinetic parameters of a pseudohomogeneous model were
calculated from the initial-rate and integral-rate data measured with n-butylbenzene and
4-phenyl-1-butene in an
isothermal fixed-bed reactor. Dehydrocyclization was shown to
proceed by dehydrogenation of
n-butylbenzene to n-butenylbenzenes, by their
cyclization, and by dehydrogenation of the cyclic
products to methylindenes and naphthalene. Direct cyclization of
n-butylbenzene was of little
importance over the precoked catalyst. According to the
initial-rate data, dehydrogenation to
n-butenylbenzenes followed an apparent order of 0.5 and the
kinetic parameters seemed to be
applicable also at higher conversions. The primary dehydrogenation
products were 1-phenyl-1-butenes, and a surface model based on hydrogen abstraction from the
α-carbon has been
discussed. The initial cyclization rates measured with
4-phenyl-1-butene were appreciably lower
than those observed in integral-rate experiments. The discrepancy
was tentatively explained
by the higher reactivity of 1-phenyl-1-butenes, which are the main
constituents of the
n-butenylbenzene fraction at longer contact times. High
conversion runs with n-butylbenzene
also showed that methylindenes and -indans were partly dealkylated and
probably polymerized.
The apparent orders ranged from 1 to 1.5 for 1,6-cyclization and
from 0.5 to 0.8 for 1,5-cyclization.
Skeletal isomerization of n-butylbenzene to
sec-butyl- and sec-butenylbenzenes was
rapidly
subsided during coking, and on the coked catalyst at 783 K the reaction
followed an apparent
order of −0.5.