Butyl Alcohol Synthesis by Air Oxidation of Supercritical Isobutane

3 f-Butyl Alcohol Synthesis by Air Oxidation of Supercritical Isobutane 

Few organic oxidation reactions in SCFs have been studied in which air or oxygen is used directly as the oxidant. It is also of interest to investigate the reaction behavior of oxygen species such as peroxides in SCFs. 

A typical flow-type fixed-bed reactor was employed where isobutane was fed by a high-pressure pump. Isobutane has a critical temperature of 135 °C and a critical pressure of 36.4 bar. The catalysts included commercially avail- 

The standard reaction conditions were as follows mole ratio of isobutane/ air = 3/1 W/F (total) = 10 g h/mol catalyst weight = 0.5 g reaction temperature = 153 °C. The total pressure was 44 bar for the gas phase reaction and 54 bar for the supercritical phase reaction. The partial pressure of isobutane was 33 bar and 41 bar, respectively. 

Catalyst Total pressure (bar) /-C4H10 conversion (%) O2 conversion (%) TBA selectivity (%) i-C4Hg selectivity (%) TBA and 1-C4H8 yield (%) 

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