Issue 5, 2015

Direct synthesis of 2-ethylhexanol via n-butanal aldol condensation–hydrogenation reaction integration over a Ni/Ce-Al2O3 bifunctional catalyst

Abstract

Direct synthesis of 2-ethylhexanol from n-butanal via the reaction integration of n-butanal self-condensation with 2-ethyl-2-hexenal hydrogenation is of crucial interest for industrial production of 2-ethylhexanol. Furthermore, as an important and versatile chemical, n-butanol can be produced simultaneously by reaction integration. In the present work, several bifunctional catalysts based on γ-Al2O3 were prepared by the impregnation method and were characterized by means of H2-TPR, XRD, TEM and H2-TPD, and their catalytic performance for direct synthesis of 2-ethylhexanol from n-butanal was investigated. The results showed that Co/Al2O3 had a low activity for hydrogenation and Cu/Al2O3 had a high selectivity for the hydrogenation of the C[double bond, length as m-dash]O group while a Ru/Al2O3 catalyst only favored the hydrogenation of n-butanal to n-butanol. Among them, the Ni/Al2O3 catalyst showed the best catalytic performance and the yield of 2-ethylhexanol was the highest (49.4%). Ce-modified Ni/Al2O3 enhanced the competitiveness of aldol condensation versus hydrogenation of n-butanal and improved the selectivity of 2-ethylhexanol; the yield of 2-ethylhexanol rose to 57.8%. Then the influence of preparation conditions on the catalytic performance of Ni/Ce-Al2O3 was investigated and the suitable preparation conditions were obtained as follows: Ni loading = 10%, calcined at 550 °C for 5 h, and reduced at 570 °C for 4 h. The effect of reaction conditions on the integration reaction catalyzed by Ni/Ce-Al2O3 was investigated and the suitable reaction conditions were obtained as follows: weight percentage of Ni/Ce-Al2O3 = 15%, reaction temperature = 170 °C, reaction pressure = 4.0 MPa and reaction time = 8 h. Under the above reaction conditions, the yield of 2-ethylhexanol attained 66.9% and that of n-butanol was 18.9%. In addition, the components existing in the integration reaction system were identified by GC-MS analysis, and the main by-products were n-butyl butyrate, 2-ethylhexyl butyrate, n-butyric acid, etc. Based on the analysis of the reaction system, a reaction network for the direct synthesis of 2-ethylhexanol from n-butanal was proposed. Finally, an evaluation of the reusability of Ni/Ce-Al2O3 showed that the recovered Ni/Ce-Al2O3 catalyst lost its catalytic activity for the hydrogenation of the C[double bond, length as m-dash]O group. The main reason for deactivation was that Ni species were covered by the flaky boehmite γ-AlO(OH) formed from the hydration of γ-Al2O3 in the reaction process.

Graphical abstract: Direct synthesis of 2-ethylhexanol via n-butanal aldol condensation–hydrogenation reaction integration over a Ni/Ce-Al2O3 bifunctional catalyst

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
31 Jan 2015
Accepted
10 Mar 2015
First published
11 Mar 2015

Green Chem., 2015,17, 2959-2972

Author version available

Direct synthesis of 2-ethylhexanol via n-butanal aldol condensation–hydrogenation reaction integration over a Ni/Ce-Al2O3 bifunctional catalyst

N. Liang, X. Zhang, H. An, X. Zhao and Y. Wang, Green Chem., 2015, 17, 2959 DOI: 10.1039/C5GC00223K

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements