CATALYTIC PERFORMANCES OF Fe2O3/TS-1 CATALYST IN PHENOL HYDROXYLATION REACTION

Didik Prasetyoko (Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematic and Sciences, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), Surabaya)
Cholifah Endah Royani (Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematic and Sciences, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), Surabaya)
Hamzah Fansuri (Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematic and Sciences, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), Surabaya)
Zainab Ramli (Ibnu Sina Institute for Fundamental Science Studies, University Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor Bahru)
Hadi Nur (Ibnu Sina Institute for Fundamental Science Studies, University Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor Bahru)

Indonesian Journal of Chemistry
Vol 10, No 2 (2010)

Hydroxylation reaction of phenol into diphenol, such as hydroquinone and catechol, has a great role in many industrial applications. Phenol hydroxylation reaction can be carried out using Titanium Silicalite-1 (TS-1) as catalyst and H2O2 as an oxidant. TS-1 catalyst shows high activity and selectivity for phenol hydroxylation reaction. However, its hydrophobic sites lead to slow H2O2 adsorption toward the active site of TS-1. Consequently, the reaction rate of phenol hydroxylation reaction is tends to be low. Addition of metal oxide Fe2O3 enhanced hydrophilicity of TS-1 catalyst. Liquid phase catalytic phenol hydroxylation using hydrogen peroxide as oxidant was carried out over iron (III) oxide-modified TS-1 catalyst (Fe2O3/TS-1), that were prepared by impregnation method using iron (III) nitrate as precursor and characterized by X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption, pyridine adsorption, and hydrophilicity techniques. Catalysts 1Fe2O3/TS-1 showed maximum catalytic activity of hydroquinone product. In this research, the increase of hydroquinone formation rate is due to the higher hydrophilicity of Fe2O3/TS-1 catalysts compare to the parent catalyst, TS-1.