Highly acidic mesoporous synergistic solid catalyst and its applications

A process for producing a highly acidic mesoporous solid catalyst comprising hexagonal mesoporous silica having sulphated metal oxide of metal selected from the group consisting of zirconium, titanium, iron, aluminium, tin and bismuth incorporated therein, and having a surface area in the range 200-500 m2/g;

• a pore volume in the range of 0.1-0.3 ml/g;
• a pore diameter in the range of 25-35 Å and XRD peak at 2 theta angle being 0-3, said process comprising:
• (i) depositing water soluble salts of metals in an amount of 0.1-5.0 parts by weight into hexagonal mesoporous silica (HMS) with a pore size >13 Å in an amount of 1-10 parts by weight;
• (ii) passing ammonia gas over the metal salt deposited HMS and thereby converting the metal salt deposits in the HMS to metal hydroxide deposits in HMS, followed by washing and drying either under vacuum at 50-100° C. or at 100-150° C. at atmospheric pressure;
• (iii) sulphating the metal hydroxide deposits in the HMS with at least one sulphating agent;
• and
• (iv) calcining the sulphated, metal deposited HMS between 400-700° C. to thereby obtain the said catalyst.

A process for producing oligomers from alpha-olefins using a catalyst comprising hexagonal mesoporous silica having sulphated metal oxide of metal selected from the group consisting of zirconium, titanium, iron, aluminium, tin and bismuth incorporated therein, and having a surface area in the range 200-500 m2/g;

• a pore volume in the range of 0.1-0.3 ml/g;
• a pore diameter in the range of 25-35 Å and XRD peak at 2 theta angle being 0-3, the process comprising:
• contacting alpha olefin feedstock, RCH═CH2 wherein R represents an alkyl radical having 6 to 12 carbon numbers with said catalyst;
• adding 1 to 10% by weight of alpha olefin, under agitation;
• raising the temperature to 120 to 220° C. in autoclave, appropriate to the hydrocarbon(s) in the feedstock and maintaining the reaction at that temperature under agitations for a period between 2 to 10 hours under pressure;
• cooling the autoclave to room temperature and separating the solid catalyst from the liquid products of the reaction followed by separating the unreacted monomer and the oligomer.

A process for Friedel-Crafts reactions using a catalyst comprising hexagonal mesoporous silica having sulphated metal oxide of metal selected from the group consisting of zirconium, titanium, iron, aluminium, tin and bismuth incorporated therein, and having a surface area in the range 200-500 m2/g;

• a pore volume in the range of 0.1-0.3 ml/g;
• a pore diameter in the range of 25-35 Å and XRD peak at 2 theta angle being 0-3, wherein said process comprises:
• i. contacting aromatic compounds with acylating/alkylating agent in the presence of said catalyst;
• ii. maintaining the reaction under stirring at the reaction temperature 50-100° C. from 30 mins to 6 hours;
• and
• iii. recovering the reaction product.

A process for the vapour phase reaction for alkylating arylamine selectively at the para-position using a catalyst comprising hexagonal mesoporous silica having sulphated metal oxide of metal selected from the group consisting of zirconium, titanium, iron, aluminium, tin and bismuth incorporated therein, and having a surface area in the range 200-500 m2/g;

• a pore volume in the range of 0.1-0.3 ml/g;
• a pore diameter in the range of 25-35 Å and XRD peak at 2 theta angle being 0-3, wherein said process comprises:
• i) contacting arylamines with an alkylating agent both in vapour phase in the presence of said catalyst;
• ii) maintaining the reaction temperature between 150-400° C. in the tubular down flow reactor;
• iii) recovering the reaction product.