Phenol Production from Benzene with N2O, H2 O2, and

Phenol is a major industrial product, and its production exceeds 7.2 million tons per year in the world. The phenol market is still growing because of an increase in the 

The three-step cumene process, including the liquid-phase reactions, is energyconsuming, environmentally unfavorable and disadvantageous for practical operation. The process also produces the unnecessary by-product acetone stoichio-metrically. Furthermore, the intermediate, cumene hydroperoxide, is explosive and cannot be concentrated in the final step, resulting in low phenol yield ( 5%, based on the amount of benzene initially used). Thus, direct phenol synthesis from benzene in a one-step reaction with high benzene conversion and high phenol selectivity is most desirable from the viewpoints of environment-fnendly green process and economical efficiency. 

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