The study on B.T.X., which are largely produced as the by-products of the Petro-Chemical Industries, has been very limited in this country and therefore it is worth while investigating their utilizations.
The objective of this research is the development of catalysts and process in the manufacture of Aniline, which is the most useful one for benzene derivatives. The experimental equipment was designed such that it could be applied for various catalytic reactions, and the catalysts used were $Ni/r-Al_2O_3$, $Ni/SiO_2$, $Cu/SiO_2$ and $Ni-Cu/r-Al_2O_3$. Of these catalysts, high activity and selectivity were obtained for $Ni/r-Al_2O_3$ catalyst, which could be used as an appropriate catalyst of this reaction. For $Ni/SiO_2$, high activity was obtained but was somewhat unstable. For $Cu/SiO_2$, high activity, stability and selectivity were obtained and it could also be used as an appropriate catalyst. For Ni-Cu alloy on $r-Al_2O_3$, high stability at high tempearture was obtained, such that it could be applied in this reaction where the removal of the heat of reaction was very difficult.
And for the $Ni/r-Al_2O_3$, high pressure resulted in high activity and high stability, and optimal ratio of hydrogen to nitrobenzene was 5-7 regardless of the space time. It was found that there exists an optimum locus for the best yield in the domain of space time and reaction temperature. Catalyst deactivation was more apt to occur at the low space time and high reaction temperature. And the Hougen-Watson type equation has been found in good correlation with the rate data for $Ni/r-Al_2O_3$.
