Controllable oxidation of cyclohexane to cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone by a nano-MnOx/Ti electrocatalytic membrane reactor

•Porous MnOx/Ti electrode as a anode was used to assemble an electrocatalytic reactor.•Cyclohexanol (A)/cyclohexanone (K) was produced from cyclohexane by the reactor.•Electrocatalytic oxidation of cyclohexane to A and K was controllable.•14.6% conversion of cyclohexane and 99.8% selectivity to K and A were obtained.•MnOx catalysts play a key role on the cyclohexane oxidation under mild conditions.

Controllable catalytic oxidation of cyclohexane with high selectivity under mild conditions is a major objective in oxidation chemistry and industrial chemistry. A functional electrocatalytic membrane reactor (ECMR) assembled by nano-MnOx loading porous Ti membrane as an anode was employed for controllable oxidation of cyclohexane to produce cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol. A ternary solution system of cyclohexane, water and acetic acid was used as the feed solution. The effects of operation parameters such as residence time, reaction temperature, current density and feed concentration on cyclohexane conversion and selectivity to cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol were investigated. The results showed that 14.6% conversion of cyclohexane and 99.8% total selectivity to cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol were obtained under certain conditions of ECMR. The high performance is associated with the synergistic effect between electrochemical oxidation and convection-enhanced diffusion in the ECMR. In particular, MnOx as electrocatalysts play a key role on the oxidation of cyclohexane.

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