Synthesis of N, N-dimethyl-n-butylamine with tubular reactor

The catalytic amination of n-butylamine and methanol, which is high in atom utilization, was conducted to produce N, N-dimethyl-n-butylamine economically and environmentally. The catalysts were prepared by impregnation of Cu, Ni, Co on the phosphoric acid treated γ-Al2O3 and the processes were studied in a tubular fixed-bed reactor. The characteristics of the catalysts and the reaction conditions were observed experimentally. Results showed that the catalyst with Co mass fraction of 30%-31% and Ni mass fraction of 9%-10% performed better in the amination. The conversion of 81.7% of the n-butylamine and the selectivity of 72.9% for the desired product were obtained under the proper reaction conditions at 0.3 MPa, 160C, 0.3 h-1 and molar ratio of methanol: butylamine=6:1.