Preparation and characterization of Cu-Cr impregnated silica catalyst from rice husk

A simple method of alkaline extractio was used to extract silica from the rice husk. The silica as obtained was found to have high surface area and wide pore size distribution. An alkaline extraction route using NaOH was followed to extract silica and later it was impregnated with transition metal, Copper and Chromium, via al sol-gel method to prepare metal modified catalsyst. Use of mesoporous silica from rice husk proved to be a mean of obtaining a biogenic catalyst support and also to obtain a cacatlyst which efficiently acts as an oxidation catalyst giving high conversion for styrene to benzaldehyde by oxidation in its side chain. Better product selectivity was also observed on use of Copper along with Chromium for impregnation in the silica supported catalyst