Effect of Nickel Promoted Niobium Catalyst on Toluene Nitration Reaction

A series of Ni-Nb2O5/SiO2 catalysts with varying Ni loadings (5-25 wt %) were prepared. The catalytic activity of the materials was evaluated by nitration of toluene. Ni-Nb2O5/SiO2 catalyst showed good catalytic activity, selectivity, and reusability for the nitration of toluene. Under the optimal conditions, conversion of toluene by 88% to mononitrotoluene was achieved with 100% selectivity. Experiments were designed by the Minitab software, and the effect of reaction conditions was investigated. The optimal reaction condition was also achieved for the high amount of total products and the lowest amount of meta-isomer using this software. The reusability of catalyst also was studied in this work at the same operating conditions, and the catalyst was stable for four runs without losing catalytic activity.

Automated summary

A series of Ni-Nb2O5/SiO2 catalysts with different Ni loadings were prepared and evaluated for the nitration of toluene. The catalyst showed good catalytic activity, selectivity, and reusability. The effect of reaction conditions was investigated using Minitab software, and the optimal conditions for high total product yield and low meta-isomer content were achieved. The catalyst remained stable and active for four runs under the same operating conditions.