Effect of TS-1 treatment by tetrapropyl ammonium hydroxide on cyclohexanone ammoximation

Abstract TS-1 has been treated with different concentrations of tetrapropyl ammonium hydroxide (TPAOH), characterized by a series of techniques, and studied in cyclohexanone ammoximation. The results show that the MFI structure of TS-1 is not destroyed, while mesopores are formed in TS-1 crystals and the pore diameters increase with the TPAOH concentrations; the amount of the framework Ti species decreases slightly at low concentrations of TPAOH, but decreases appreciably at the concentrations of TPAOH above 0.0125 mol/L; the activity and the selectivity of TS-1 are not affected by the treatment, but the catalyst stability is markedly increased after the TPAOH treatment. The increase of the stability is attributed to the mesopore formation. But when the pore diameters are larger than 6.51 nm, the catalyst stability begins decreasing due to the appreciable damage of the framework titanium by TPAOH.