One-step semi-continuous cyclohexanone production via hydrogenation of phenol in a submerged ceramic membrane reactor

Cyclohexanone is an important chemical raw material, and the development of green production technologies is urgently desirable. In this article, a clean and efficient process of phenol hydrogenation to cyclohexanone was developed over a Pd@CN catalyst in a submerged ceramic membrane reactor, which realized the in-situ separation and reuse of catalyst. The effects of operation conditions on the reaction and filtration processes were investigated in detail. Results showed that the introduction of membrane had almost no influence on the phenol conversion and cyclohexanone selectivity, but the operation conditions greatly affected the performance of reaction and filtration. Semi-continuous phenol hydrogenation to cyclohexanone showed that the Pd@CN catalyst could maintain a high phenol conversion at ~94.6% and a cyclohexanone selectivity above 86.5%, and the ceramic membrane exhibited better filtration performance and excellent stability during the entire hydrogenation process. This work would provide some references for green production of cyclohexanone.