Selective synthesis of p-ethylphenol by gas phase ethylation of phenol

SAD, MARIA EUGENIA; PADRÓ, CRISTINA; DUARTE, HERNÁN ANTONIO; APESTEGUÍA, CARLOS RODOLFO

Louisville

Congreso; 23rd NAM; 2013

North American Catalysis Society

p-Ehylphenol (p-EP) is raw material for the production of p-vinylphenol, which is a valuable chemical used in resins preparations, synthesis of pharmaceuticals and dyes. p-EP is commercially produced by ethylbenzene sulfonation followed by alkaline fusion using corrosive acids and bases. This process poses serious environmental concerns because of the generation of significant amount of wastes. Therefore, the development of an alternative route for obtaining p-EP becomes highly desirable. Ethylphenols can be obtained by gas phase phenol alkylation with ethanol. In fact, the selective synthesis of o-ethylphenol and 2,6- diethylphenol by alkylation of phenol with ethanol using SiO2-Al2O3 and Fe2O3 catalysts has already been reported. p-Selective alkylation of phenol with ethanol has been claimed on pore size tailored HZSM5 zeolite at 673 K and phenol/ethanol ratio of 2, however the highest p-EP yield obtained was less than 7%. In this work we studied the gas phase ethylation of phenol on zeolites HZSM5 and HMCM22 in order to obtain higher yields of p-ethylphenol and thus developing a technological alternative route for the efficient production of p-EP.