Reactor Performance Study of Mil-88 Catalyst in Alkylation of Benzene By Ethanol

Iron based metal organic framework as a novel catalyst under the name of mil-88 was developed for ethylbenzene synthesis by alkylation of benzene with ethanol in low temperature gas phase condition and atmospheric pressure# the catalyst activity and product selectivity for ethylbenzene production have been investigated in a specially designed flow microreactor and effects of temperature and space velocity at constant benzene to ethanol ratio have been studied# the new synthesized catalyst showed higher performance in comparison to commonly used zeolites for producing ethylbenzene (72% benzene conversion and 76% ethylbenzene selectivity at 175 ºc)# the main byproduct was recognized as toluene# long reaction time for mil-88 showed no decline in conversion and selectivity of desired product#