Low Temperature Hydroxylation of Benzene to Phenol on Fe/Activated Carbon Catalysts Loaded with Different Types of Second Metal Under Microwave Condition

Abstract

This paper investigated the microwave assisted liquid phase hydroxylation of benzene to phenol with hydrogen peroxide over Fe/activated carbon-based catalysts prepared by impregnated method. Various types of second metal (e.g., Co and Cu) were loaded together with Fe on the activated carbon support and the catalytic performance of the obtained catalysts was compared. It was found that the presence of the second metal can improve the phenol production of the typical Fe/activated carbon catalyst. Various techniques (XRD and BET surface area) were employed to characterize the catalysts. Finally the effects of some operating variables (e.g., reaction time, catalyst amount, H2O2 amount, solvent amount) on the catalytic performance were investigated.