Dehydrogenation of cyclohexanol to cyclohexanone over nitrogen-doped graphene supported cu catalyst

Abstract

In this study, the dehydrogenation of cyclohexanol to cyclohexanone over nitrogen-doped reduced gra-phene oxide (N-rGO) Cu catalyst has been reported. The N-rGO support was synthesized by chemical reduction of graphite oxide (GO). The synthesized N-rGO was used as a support to prepare the Cu/N-rGO catalyst via an incipient wet impregnation method. The as-prepared support and the Cu/N-rGO catalyst were characterized by FESEM, EDX, XRD, TEM, TGA, and Raman spectroscopy. The various characterization analysis revealed the suitability of the Cu/N-rGO as a heterogeneous catalyst that can be employed for the dehydrogenation of cyclohexanol to cyclohexanone. The catalytic activity of the Cu/N-rGO catalyst was tested in non-oxidative dehydrogenation of cyclohexanol to cyclohexanone us-ing a stainless-steel fixed bed reactor. The effects of temperature, reactant flow rate, and time-on-stream on the activity of the Cu/N-rGO catalyst were examined. The Cu/N-rGO nanosheets show excel-lent catalytic activity and selectivity to cyclohexanone. The formation of stable Cu nanoparticles on N-rGO support interaction and segregation of Cu were crucial factors for the catalytic activity. The high-est cyclohexanol conversion and selectivity of 93.3% and 82.7%, respectively, were obtained at a reac-tion temperature of 270 °C and cyclohexanol feed rate of 0.1 ml/min. Copyright © 2020 BCREC Group. All rights reserved.