Ammoximation of Cyclohexanone to Cyclohexanone Oxime Catalyzed by Titanium Silicalite-1 Zeolite in Three-phase System

An innovative green process of producing epsilon-caprolactam was proposed by integrating ammoximation and Beckmann rearrangement effectively. As a first part of the new process, TS-1 molecular sieve-catalyzed synthesis of cyclohexanone oxime from cyclohexanone, ammonia and hydrogen peroxide was carried out in a batch plant. Cyclohexane was used as the solvent in the three-phase reaction system. The influences of essential process parameters on ammoximation were investigated. Under the reaction conditions as catalyst content of 2.5% (by mass); H2O2/yclohexanone molar ratio of 1.10; NH3/cyclohexanone molar ratio of 2.20; reaction temperature of 343 K; reaction time of 5 h, high conversion of cyclohexanone and selectivity to oxime (both>99%) were obtained. Thus, the three-phase ammoximation process showed equal catalytic activity as TS-1 but much more convenient and simpler for the separation of catalyst in comparison to the industrial two-phase system with t-butanol used as solvent.