CSIR-IIP Develops Nano Catalysts to Address Several Challenging Catalysis Reactions in the Chemical Industry

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research- Indian Institute of Petroleum (CSIR-IIP) has developed new energy efficient synthesis strategies for preparation of various nano structured material (nano-catalysts), useful for several challenging catalysis reactions.  It developed nano-catalysts useful in the following reactions:-.

For Selective Oxidation of Benzene to Phenol- CSIR-IIP, using an environmentally benign green process with economic efficiency, has developed a nano catalyst (Image shown below), which directly converts benzene to phenol in presence of air in a continuous process with very high selectivity.

The industrial demand for phenol is increasing every year, and its production currently exceeds 8.0 megatons per year. The existing three-step process for production of phenol, called the cumene process, is energy-consuming, environmentally unfavourable, and disadvantageous for practical operation. This process also produces unnecessary by- products, such as acetone and α-methyl styrene. The new catalysis will help in avoiding such lesser efficient reactions

For Selective Oxidation of Propylene to Propylene Oxide(PO)- The CSIR-IIP developed nano catalyst (Image shown below) which helps in adopting a new process of selective oxidation of propylene to PO, in an economically viable and more environment-friendly means, with minimal waste.

Propylene oxide (PO) otherwise is an important synthetic intermediate used in the preparation of commodity chemicals, such as poly urethane foams, propylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, propylene carbonate, etc., and currently, its production exceeds 10 million tons per annum. Ninety per cent of the world production of PO is produced either through a chlorohydrins process or by an organic hydro peroxide process (Halcon method), which apart from having acute environmental problems also results in production of unwanted by-products.

Another nano catalyst developed at CSIR-IIP helps in Low Temperature Methane Activation

Methane is the most abundant and the least reactive of the hydrocarbon family, thus the activation of of methane at low temperatures is one of the most challenging problems with great practical importance.  The CSIR-IIP developed nano catalyst (Images shown below) can activate methane at low temperature at atmospheric pressure without any deactivation. This also helps in reducing carbon dioxide, another notorious greenhouse gas to produce synthesis gas (mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen).

CSIR-IIP also developed nano catalyst (Image shown below) to convert Ethane to Ethylene in a continuous process at atmospheric pressure.-

Ethylene is one of the main building block in petrochemical industry and used as a feedstock for numerous processes like  manufacture of mustard gas (C₄H₈Cl₂S), ethylene oxide, ethylene alcohol, polyethylene and other plastics; and as an inhalation anaesthetic. Global ethylene production capacity is 155.9 million tons.

The controlled synthesis of nano particle by simple preparation method still remains a challenge for the researchers as most of the preparation methods are energy intensive, require substantial heat treatment and produce large particles.

Courtesy:pib.nic.in