Liquid Phase Hydrodechlorination of Chlorobenzene over Bimetallic Supported Zirconia Catalyst

Abstract

Mesoporous zirconia was prepared by the surfactant-assisted route, using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide as cationic surfactant. The synthesized zirconia was employed as support for copper and nickel bimetallic-catalysts in the hydrodehalogenation reaction of chlorobenzenes and substituted chlorobenzenes, at room temperature. The.,catalysts' were characterized: by nitrogen adsorption-desorption, X-ray powder diffraction, Fourier-transfer infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), transmittance electron Micrograph (TEM), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy(UV-vis DRS) temperature programmed reduction (TPR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The nitrogen adsorption-desorption studies revealed that the modified samples retain the mesoporosity. TEM studies showed uniform distribution of metals having 5-10 run particles size On the support surface. The bimetallic catalyst exhibited a higher H(2) chemisorption capacity relative to monometallic catalysts. For catalytic hydrodehalogenation of chlorobenzene, bimetallic catalyst showed 95% conversion with 100% selectivity for benzene as compared to monometallic catalysts, indicative of the synergy effect of copper, nickel supported on zirconia.