Progress in cyclohexanol preparation by catalytic hydration of cyclohexene

Research progress in catalysts for direct hydration of cyclohexene is summarized,in which ion exchange resins and zeolites are two major catalysts.The modification of zeolite is an important research direction.Processes for cyclohexene hydration to produce cyclohexanol are reviewed and their advantages and disadvantages are compared.A new process with reactive distillation column using a co-solvent was proposed for the preparation of cyclohexanol by catalytic hydration of cyclohexene,which seems to offer a solution for those problems in existed technologies.