Direct oxidation of Benzene to Phenol : investigating of the active iron species in [Fe, Al] MFI catalysts by Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy / Jerome Bolabola Taboada.

Vita.
"Proefschrift, ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Technische Universiteit Delft ..."

Thesis -- Cebu Institute of Technology - University, November 2006.

The opening chapter of this thesis is structured to give a general background in the direct oxidation of benzene to phenol, using nitrous oxide as oxidant (BTOP). [Fe, AI]MFI zeolite catalyst, which exhibits superior performance in terms of activity and selectivity in the BTOP reaction, is described. Furthermore, a literature overview of several propositions on the nature of the active sites in the [Fe, AI]MFI catalyst for the BTOP reaction is presented. However, recent investigations have shown strong indication that extra-framework iron species in the [Fe, AI]MFI catalyst are the catalytically active constituents in the BTOP reaction. These developments form the backbone of this study, which utilizes 57Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy as the primary characterization technique to investigate the active iron species in the direct oxidation of benzene to phenol.