Recently, a new process to produce cyclohexanone (CHN) from cyclohexane
with a bionic catalyst derived from metalloporphyrins has been developed by
Sinopec Baling Petrochemical in junction with Hunan University in China. Reportedly,
the new catalyst provides cyclohexane conversion of 8-12 % with a selectivity
to cyclohexanone/cyclohexanol (KA oil) 92-96 %, which is higher than that
with conventional cobalt catalyst in commercial production. In this review,
we present a review of this technology, and a techno-economic evaluation of
this technology, based on the available public information.
Also presented is economic comparison between the present process and those
of two commercial processes – cyclohexanone from phenol by hydrogenation,
and cyclohexanone from cyclohexane by conventional oxidation. We conclude
that the present process requires relatively 20.8 $million lower capital investment
than the conventional oxidation process. As expected, the phenol-based process
requires the lowest capital investment due to its simplicity in operation.
However, high cost of phenol as compared with that of cyclohexane provides
the present process with economic advantage in production costs among the
three CHN processes presented in this study.
