One Step Synthesis Of Methyl Isobutyl Ketone From Acetone Catalysed By Ni-zirconia

Methyl isobutyl ketone has been widely applied as solvent for paints, antioxidant for synthetic rubbers, and it is used in the extraction and purification of rare metals. In recent years, demand for the number of methyl isobutyl ketone has grown rapidly in China. But there were nearly40percents of consumption by import. The reason for this is that our enterprises lack of the craft which with independent intellectual property rights, low power consumption, and high yield for the one-step synthesis of methyl-isobutyl-ketone from acetone. In order to solve this problem, the purpose of this paper is to find a catalyst which has a high catalytic efficiency, low cost of production and long life. The reactions were carried out in an autoclave, and the characterizations of catalysts were analyzed by XRD, BET and TPD.The one-step synthesis of methyl-isobutyl-ketone from acetone was studied over Ni/ZrO2prepared by precipitation and impregnation in an autoclave. The aging temperature, calcination temperature, Ni content and reduction temperature were specifically examined. Series of catalysts which significant effected on catalyst activity were analyzed by XRD, BET or TPD. The33.13%acetone conversion and73.14%methyl-isobutyl-ketone selectivity were recorded at reaction temperature of200℃, reaction time of2hours and reaction pressure of3.0Mpa by13.0wt%Ni/ZrO2. Through the evaluation results of catalysts, we can find that the main by-products is isopropyl alcohol in this reaction, the Ni content and reduction temperature were more effected on catalysts activity than the other factors. We also found that the acetone conversion always inversely related to the methyl-isobutyl-ketone selectivity. When the acetone conversion increased, the methyl-isobutyl-ketone selectivity reduced.Through the characteristics of Ni/ZrO2we found that the surface of catalysis contains a lot of acid-base and metal active centers, high catalytic hydrogenation activity. Only when the content of Ni and NiO maintain in a certain amounts and ratios on the surface of catalysts, good results would be obtained. In order to improve the methyl-isobutyl-ketone yield, a reasonable amounts of acid-base and metal active centers are essential, the same to their intensity and ratio.