Titania-Loaded Coal Char as Catalyst in Oxidation of Styrene with Aqueous Hydrogen Peroxide
Abstract
Titania-loaded coal char catalyst was successfully
prepared. The preparation steps involved pyrolysis of low
rank coal at different temperatures and durations, sulfonation,
impregnation of titanium(IV) isopropoxide, and then
heating at 110 °C. It is found that the coal chars’ surfaces
were rough after sulfonation and impregnation, while large
pore volume, high surface area and carbon composition
were observed at low pyrolysis temperature for short duration.
These properties contributed to high selectivity
towards benzaldehyde (> 90%) at 600 °C (0.5–2 h)) in styrene
oxidation using aqueous hydrogen peroxide as the
oxidant.