Solvent-Free Nitration of Toluene in the Presence of Nb2O5/SiO2 Catalyst

Sahebi, Mehdi; Nasiri, Mohammad; Shokrollahi, Arash

doi:10.30492/ijcce.2022.539174.4938

Solvent-Free Nitration of Toluene in the Presence of Nb2O5/SiO2 Catalyst

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Department of Chemistry, Malek-Ashtar University of Technology, P.O. Box 83145/115 Shahin-Shahr, I.R. IRAN

10.30492/ijcce.2022.539174.4938

Abstract

A series of Nb₂O₅/SiO₂ catalysts with varying Nb₂O₅ loadings (5–25 wt%) were prepared using the sol-gel technique. The catalytic activity of the materials was evaluated by nitration of toluene. Nb₂O₅/SiO₂ catalyst showed good catalytic activity, selectivity, and reusability for the nitration of toluene. Under the optimal conditions, conversion of toluene by 86% to mono-nitrotoluene was achieved with 100% selectivity. Experiments were designed by Minitab software, and the effect of reaction conditions was examined on the amount of meta isomer. The optimal reaction condition was also achieved for the lowest amount of meta isomer using this software. The reusability of the catalyst also was studied in this work at the same operating conditions, and the catalyst was stable for four runs without losing catalytic activity.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Catalysts, Kinetics, Reactor

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