Synthesis of Dimethyl Ether over Modified H-Mordenite Zeolites and Bifunctional Catalysts Composed of Cu/ZnO/ZrO2 and Modified H-Mordenite Zeolite in Slurry Phase

A simple, cost effective and reusable transition metal (M = Ti, V, Mn)-grafted mesoporous silica spheres were synthesized by sol–gel technique and characterized by SXRD, FTIR, UV–Vis DRS, SEM, EDS, BET-surface area, pore volume and average pore diameter. Epoxidation of cyclohexene to cyclohexene oxide over these modified silica spheres using TBHP as oxidant was performed to compare the catalytic activities. Cyclohexene oxide selectivity was recorded to be 87.5% with 72.5% conversion over 8 wt% Ti-grafted silica spheres in comparison to V and Mn-grafted catalysts.