Side-chain alkylation of toluene with methanol over dual catalysts comprising X-zeolites and Fe-Mo oxide

The activities of various dual catalyst systems consisting of Na-X, Cs-X and Cs-B-X along with Fe-Mo oxide catalyst have been investigated towards side-chain alkylation reactions of toluene with methanol at atmospheric pressure in a fixed-bed reactor, Among these Cs-X/Fe-Mo dual catalyst showed the highest activity and selectivity leading to a maximum toluene conversion of 33.1% acid a styrene-to-ethylbenzene mole ratio of 10 : 1 under optimum reaction conditions such as at 425 degrees and toluene-to-methanol mole ratio of 1 : 5. The activities of all the single zeolites were improved by utilising Fe-Mo oxide in the dual catalyst systems.