Abstract:
Cumene synthesis from benzene and isopropanol over Beta zeolite is investigated. The prepared catalysts are characterized by XRD, BET, XRF and pyridine adsorption technique on in-situ FTIR. The influences of different reaction parameters such as reaction temperature, space velocity, stability and Si/Al ratios are also studied. The selectivity to cumene is maximum (79.92%) at 200℃ 3000 h' -1 for 40 min on stream. At higher Si/Al ratio, the selectivity to cumene is decreased while diisopropylbenzene is increased. The activity and selectivity of Beta zeolite are compared with other zeolites such as ZSM-5 and Y zeolite. The activity of deactivated Beta zeolite can be restored with the regeneration at 550℃ for 1 h. Furthermore, the faster deactivation is obtained when propylene is used as an alkylating agent.
