Alkylation of phenol with tertiary butyl alcohol over zeolites

Alkylation of phenol was carried out with tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) producing p-tert-butyl phenol over a variety of zeolite catalysts, namely, zeolite Beta, 13X zeolite, Ce-exchanged 13X zeolite, and zeotite prepared from fly ash. Zeolite Beta showed the highest activity for the reaction under otherwise identical conditions. The activity of 13X zeolite was found to increase with an increase in cerium content in the catalyst, which was accomplished through ion exchange. The activity of zeolite (obtained from fly ash by hydrothermal treatment) in catalyzing the reaction was tested with highly encouraging results. The effects of various parameters such as reaction temperature, reactant ratio (mole ratio of phenol to that of tert-butyl alcohol), and catalyst loading on the rate of reaction were also studied. The alkylation reaction was found to be surface-reaction controlled with negligible interparticle mass-transfer resistance.