Ruthenium-based methylation catalyst for benzoic acid hydrogenation process passes technical evaluation

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The project \"Development of New Catalytic Materials for Benzoic Acid Hydrogenation\", undertaken jointly by the Sinopec Research Institute of Petroleum Processing and Shijiazhuang Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd., is a Sinopec technology development contract project. Through the joint efforts of the participating units, a hydrogenation process for benzoic acid was developed using a composite catalytic system based on low-temperature and high-efficiency ruthenium-based methanation promoters and palladium-carbon catalysts; this resulted in the technology of \"Research and Industrial Application of Ruthenium-Based Methanation Promoters in the Benzoic Acid Hydrogenation Process\". Recently, this technology passed the technical evaluation conducted by the Technology Development Department of Sinopec Corporation. Leaders and experts from units such as the Technology Development Department of Sinopec Corporation, the Development Planning Department of Sinopec Corporation, Sinopec Engineering Construction Company, Sinopec Beijing Yanshan Branch, Sinopec Shanghai Research Institute of Petrochemicals, Sinopec Research Institute of Petrochemical Sciences, Shijiazhuang Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd., and East China University of Science and Technology attended the meeting. At the meeting, the project sponsors, represented by Shijiazhuang Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd. and Sinopec Research Institute of Petroleum Chemistry, reported on the progress of project development, and the leaders and experts present conducted a thorough evaluation and review of the work. The experts present agreed that the project \"Development of New Catalytic Materials for Benzoic Acid Hydrogenation\" addressed the problem of CO poisoning of Pd/C catalysts by studying the mechanism of catalyst deactivation during benzoic acid hydrogenation, and by developing and applying low-temperature, high-efficiency ruthenium-based methanation catalysts. This technology was successfully applied in December 2003 at the 65 kt·a caprolactam plant of Shijiazhuang Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd. Industrial test results show that when the concentration of the ruthenium-based methanation promoter in the system reaches 50 g·g, the catalyst cycle activity in the hydrogenation reaction system increases by 30% to 60%, thereby significantly extending the catalyst’s lifespan. The purity of the cyclohexanecarboxylic acid product improves by 0.4 percentage points, which is beneficial for the amideation reaction and results in significant economic benefits.