Catalysis of Organic..

374 MIBK Synthesis via CDConclusionsMIBK has been produced successfully in a single CD reactor utilizing twodifferent catalytic reaction zones. Although the MIBK productivity was comparableto the data presented by Lawson and Nkosi (6) utilizing a single catalytic reactionzone, there was experimental evidence of significant deactivation of thehydrogenation catalyst. The activity of the catalyst recovered from the CD columnwas tested by the hydrogenation of mesityl oxide in an autoclave and showed anactivity of 0.302 relative to fresh catalyst. DRIFT desorption spectra shows thatMIBK adsorbs strongly on the Pd/Al 2 O 3 catalyst, which may have influenced itslong-term performance in the pilot scale reactor. It is likely that the ketone group ofMIBK interacts strongly with the Lewis acid sites of the alumina support. Thehydrogenation of acetone to produce 2-propanol was the only significant competingreaction with hydrogenation selectivity to MIBK ranging from 84 to 95%. It isevident that improved catalyst performance is required. Specifically, a stable andactive hydrogenation catalyst is needed. Moreover, the poor thermal stability ofAmberlyst 15 constrains the CD process to less than 0.6 MPa. The low partialpressure of hydrogen in this experiment contributed to the relatively low MIBKyield. Therefore, an improved solid acid catalyst with greater thermal stability isrequired for mesityl oxide synthesis at higher operating temperatures and pressures.AcknowledgementsFunding for this project provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering ResearchCouncil (NSERC) of Canada and financial support provided to W.K O’Keefe fromthe Province of Ontario, Ministry of Training Colleges and Students, in the form ofan Ontario Graduate Scholarship, is gratefully acknowledged.ReferencesL. Melo, P. Magnoux,, G. Giannetto, F. Alvarez, and M. Guisnet, J. Mol. Catal. A.,124, pp.155-161, (1997).2. W. K. O’Keefe, M. Jiang, F.T.T. Ng and G. L. Rempel, Chem. Eng. Sci., 60, pp.5131-4140, (2005).3. F. Delbecq and P. Sautet, J. Catal. 152, pp. 217-236, (1995).4. W. K. O’Keefe, M. Jiang, F. T .T. Ng and G. L. Rempel, (Cat. Org. React.), Ed.J. R. Sowa, (CRC Press, Taylor and Francis), pp. 261-266, (2005).5. F.T.T. Ng and G.L. Rempel, “Catalytic Distillation”, in the Encyclopedia ofCatalysis, (John Wiley), (2003), pp. 477-509.6. H. Lawson and B. Nkosi, U.S. Patent, 6,008,416 to Catalytic DistillationTechnologies, Pasadena, TX., (1999).7. N, Saayman, G.J. Lund and S. Kindemans, U.S. Patent, 6,518,462 to CatalyticDistillation Technologies, Pasadena, TX, (2003)8. G. G. Podrebarac, F. T. T. Ng and G. L. Rempel, Chem. Eng. Sci., 53(5), pp.1067-1075 (1998).