Pure TiO2, ZrO2 and TiO2-ZrO2 mixed oxides with various compositions were prepared by the co-precipitation method. Catalysts containing 12wt.% boria were prepared using these oxides and their catalytic performance for vapor-phase Beckmann rearrangement of cyclohexanone oxime to ε-caprolactam was determined.With increasing zirconia content in the mixed oxide, the specific surface area and the temperature of the phase transformation increased; maximum values were obtained for a mixed oxide having a Ti and Zr molar ratio of 1/1. XRD results indicated that TiO2-ZrO2 became amorphous after calcination at 500℃ if neither the content of TiO2 nor that of ZrO2 was less than 25%. The yield of lactam increased with increasing zirconia content in mixed oxide and reached a maximum value for the B2O3/TiO2-ZrO2 (1/1) catalyst.With further increase in zirconia content, the lactam yield decreased; the lowest value was observed for the pure ZrO2-supported catalyst. The acidic property and the pore characteristics of the catalyst were key factors that affected its performance. The influences of the operating parameters on the performance of B2O3/TiO2-ZrO2 (1/1) catalyst were also investigated.

Monte Carlo simulations were used to search for the optimal probability estimator for estimating Weibull parameters with the linear regression method. Compared with commonly used probability estimators, the optimal one obtained gives a more accurate estimation of the Weibull modulus and the same estimation precision of the scale parameter. It is also concluded that the maximum likelihood method results in the highest precision, however, less conservative than the linear regression method.