No abstract

In this work, nickel-supported bentonite catalyst was prepared by wet impregnation method followed by activation and reduction. The nickel catalyst showed excellent catalytic activity for hydrogenation of furfural with 98 % selectivity towards furfuryl alcohol. In addition, various reaction parameters such as temperature, time, catalyst loading, solvents, and catalyst recycling, were optimized to enhance furfural conversion and furfuryl alcohol selectivity.

Fe-bentonite is used as a catalyst for the alkylation of phenol using tert-butanol. Bentonite was modified by loading with the known concentrations of Fe/Zn/Zr. Series of catalysts such as Fe-bentonite, Zn-bentonite and Zr-bentonite were prepared by ion-exchange method and were used for the synthesis of p-tert-butylphenol (PTBP) by alkylation of phenol with tert-butylalcohol (TBA) in a batch process. Fe-bentonite was found to be an excellent catalyst with 100% TBA conversion and 81% selectivity for PTBP at 80°C. All the catalysts have been analyzed by different characterization methods, FTIR, XRD, TEM, SEM, and BET. The effect of various parameters like catalyst screening, reaction time, temperature, and the molar ratio of the reagents have been tested to obtain the best conversion and selectivity for the desired product.