Partial hydrogenation of benzene to cyclohexene over Ru/gamma-Al2O3 nanocatalyst via w/o microemulsion using boric acid and ethanolamine additives

摘要

Ru/gamma-Al2O3 nanocatalyst was synthesized by water-in-oil reverse microemulsion technique and characterized by TEM, SEM-EDX, XRD, N-2 adsorption-desorption, and H-2 chemisorption. The surface area and active sites (S (M)) of 3 wt% Ru/gamma-Al2O3 was obtained around 217.6 m(2)/g and 45.70 m(2)/g(cat), respectively. The catalyst performance of Ru/gamma-Al2O3 was assessed in the selective hydrogenation benzene to cyclohexene in the presence of boric acid (BA) and ethanolamine (EA) additives. The effect of such specific additives alone and in combination on the activity and selectivity of benzene hydrogenation was systematically investigated. Ru catalyst displayed pre-eminent performance at 0.5 mmol ratio of BA to EA exhibiting the highest selectivity (40 %) and yield (16 %) of the intermediate product, cyclohexene at 40 % of benzene conversion.