PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION AND CATALYTIC PROPERTIES OF COPPER-DOPED ALUMINA-PILLARED MONTMORILLONITES

Cu-doped alumina-pillared montmorillonite samples have been prepared a nd characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), electron spin resonance (ESR) and inductive coupled plasma atom ic emission spectroscopy (ICP AES) techniques. The results show that t he catalysts are porous materials with copper species located in the i nterlayer, present either as isolated Cu2+ ions anchored at alumina pi llars or as patches of amorphous CuO. Catalytic tests with hydroxylati on of phenol show that the clay samples possess significant activity f or dihydroxybenzene (DHB) formation, comparable with the reference TS- 1 catalyst. Experiments with changing the substrate dosing indicate th at adsorption and activation of phenol molecules is a necessary condit ion for the reaction to occur.