Investigation of new macroporous catalysts in the process of phenol alkylation by ethylene oligomers

Abstract

The features of phenol alkylation by higher alpha-olefins in order to obtain mono-substituted alkylphenols (o-AF and p-AF) using commercial industrial samples of sulfocationites: Hydrolite ZG CD552, ND-102 and the line of catalysts Purolite CT275DR/4503, CT275DR/4883, CT151DR, CT169DR, which belong to macroporous and are in different price categories. A feature of these cationites is a particularly strong matrix of regularly cross-linked divinylbenzene styrene copolymer. The structure of the granules combines the increased rigidity of the polymer mesh with a highly developed surface of the pores for exchange, which provides a large concentration of available exchange groups and high diffusion permeability of the granules. A comparative analysis of the catalytic activity of alkylation catalysts was carried out, which showed that, despite the high activity of all the studied catalysts in the reaction of alkylation of phenol with ethylene oligomers (OE) of the C16-C18 fraction, most of the studied catalysts showed low thermal stability and showed a tendency to rapid mechanical destruction. During the research, optimal technological parameters for each catalyst were established, including temperature and molar ratio of reagents, providing maximum yields of the target monoalkylphenol at the level of 97-98 %.