Selective Oxidation of Cyclohexene over the Mesoporous H-Beta Zeolite on Copper/Nickel Bimetal Catalyst in Continuous Reactor

Abstract

The copper/nickel−metal on commercial H-Beta zeolite supports was synthesized with different wt % (Ni) of 5, 10, 15, and 20, and was used in the cyclohexene epoxidation process. The synthesized catalyst has been used in a continuous reactor for the cyclohexene epoxidation process, with mild conditions and H 2 O 2 as an oxidant. The catalytic performance was ascertained by adjusting parameters such as the temperature, pressure, WHSV, reaction time, and solvents. The catalytic performance showed the resulting yield in both cyclohexene conversion and selectivity was more than 98.5%. The catalyst's textural attributes, morphology, chemical composition, and stability were determined using FT-IR, XRD, BET, HR-SEM, and TPD. The most active catalyst among those that were synthesized was evaluated, and the reaction parameters were selected to optimize yield and conversion. The H-Beta/Cu/Ni (15%) catalyst has the best conversion (98.5%) and selectivity (100%) for cyclohexene among the catalysts examined. Cu and Ni(15%) metals were successfully added to the H-Beta zeolite, causing little damage to the crystalline structure and resulting in good reusability over five cycles, as well as little loss of catalytic selectivity. Acetonitrile was the solvent that provided the highest conversion and selectivity among the others. These findings show that H-Beta/Cu/Ni bimetallic catalysts have the potential to be effective epoxidation catalysts. Because of their outstanding conversion and selectivity, the continuous reaction technique used in this work makes them appropriate for industrial production-level applications.