Mixed metal oxide catalysts and use thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9249078-B2
Application number	US-201214347422-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 29, 2012
Priority date	Oct 7, 2011
Publication date	Feb 2, 2016
Grant date	Feb 2, 2016

Abstract

Disclosed herein are catalyst compositions useful in selective decomposition of organic oxygenates. A feed comprising an organic oxygenate may be contacted with a catalyst comprising (a) at least 0.1 wt % of an oxide of an element selected from Group 3 of the Periodic Table of Elements, wherein Group 3 includes the Lanthanide series; (b) at least 0.1 wt % of an oxide of an element selected from Group 6 of the Periodic Table of Elements; and (c) at least 0.1 wt % of an oxide of at least one element selected from Group 4 of the Periodic Table of Elements, wherein the wt % s are based upon the total combined weight of the oxides in (a) through (c) and excludes any other components.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process comprising:
contacting a feed comprising an organic oxygenate with a catalyst comprising:
(a) at least 0.1 wt % of an oxide of cerium;
(b) at least 0.1 wt % of an oxide of tungsten; and
(c) at least 0.1 wt % of an oxide of zirconium, wherein the wt % s are based upon the total combined weight of the oxides in (a) through (c) and excludes any other components;
wherein the organic oxygenate is an alkyl aromatic hydroperoxide or a dialkyl ether.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst comprises 0.1 wt % to 30 wt % of the oxide of cerium, wherein the wt % is based upon the total combined weight of the oxides in (a) through (c) and excludes any other components.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst comprises 0.1 wt % to 30 wt % of the oxide of tungsten, wherein the wt % is based upon the total combined weight of the oxides in (a) through (c) and excludes any other components.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein the organic oxygenate is an alkyl aromatic hydroperoxide.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein the organic oxygenate is selected from cumene hydroperoxide, cyclohexylbenzene hydroperoxide, and sec-butylbenzene hydroperoxide.

6. The process of claim 1 , wherein the oxide of cerium is cerium dioxide.

7. The process of claim 1 , wherein the oxide of cerium is present in an amount of from 1 wt % to 20 wt %.

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein the oxide of tungsten is tungsten dioxide.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein the oxide of zirconium is zirconium dioxide.

10. The process of claim 1 , wherein the weight ratio of the oxide of cerium to the oxide of tungsten is from 1:1 to 1:8.

11. The process of claim 1 , wherein said catalyst further comprises a support that contains at least one of silica, alumina, zirconia, titania, clay, carbon, and mixtures thereof.

12. A process for producing phenol, the process comprising:
(i) hydroalkylating benzene with hydrogen in the presence of a hydroalkylation catalyst under conditions effective to produce a hydroalkylation reaction product comprising cyclohexylbenzene;
(ii) contacting at least a portion of the cyclohexylbenzene with an oxygen-containing compound in the presence of an oxidation catalyst under oxidation conditions effective to produce an oxidation product comprising cyclohexylbenzene hydroperoxide; and
(iii) contacting at least a portion of the cyclohexylbenzene hydroperoxide with a cleavage catalyst under conditions to convert said cyclohexylbenzene hydroperoxide to phenol and cyclohexanone, wherein the cleavage catalyst comprises:
(a) at least 0.1 wt % of an oxide of cerium;
(b) at least 0.1 wt % of an oxide of tungsten; and
(c) at least 0.1 wt % of an oxide of zirconium, wherein the wt % s are based upon the total combined weight of the oxides in (a) through (c) and excludes any other components.

13. The process of claim 12 , wherein the oxide of cerium is cerium dioxide.

14. The process of claim 12 , wherein the oxide of cerium is present in an amount of from 1 wt % to 20 wt %, wherein the wt % s are based upon the total combined weight of the oxides in (a) through (c) and excludes any other components.

15. The process of claim 12 , wherein the oxide of tungsten is tungsten dioxide.

16. The process of claim 12 , wherein the weight ratio of the oxide of cerium to the oxide of tungsten is from 1:1 to 1:8.

17. The process of claim 12 , wherein the contacting step (iii) is conducted at temperature of about 20° C. to about 200° C. and a pressure of about 100 kPa, gauge to about 2000 kPa, gauge.

Assignees

• Wang Kun
• Garcia Roberto
• Smith Charles Morris
• Levin Doron
• Vartuli James C
• Exxonmobil Chem Patents Inc

Inventors

• Wang Kun
• Garcia Roberto
• Smith Charles Morris
• Levin Doron
• Vartuli James C

Classifications

• B01J23/30

  Tungsten · CPC title

• B01J23/10

  of rare earths · CPC title

• C07C2/66

  Catalytic processes · CPC title

• C07C45/53

  of hydroperoxides · CPC title

• C07C37/08 Primary

  by decomposition of hydroperoxides, e.g. cumene hydroperoxide · CPC title