The existing aniline production processes tend to be energy and time consuming, as well as pollutant producing. The " greening" of global chemical manufacturing by minimizing energy consumption and waste production has become a major concern for chemical research and chemical industry. In present work, the direct oxido-amination of benzene with hydrogen peroxide and aqueous ammonia on Ni-Zr-Ce/AlaC^ catalyst was studied. It was found that with the Ni-Zr-Ce/Al2O3 catalyst prepared in present work the production of aniline from benzene, hydrogen peroxide and aqueous ammonia could be realized under mild conditions, that is, at about 50 °C and under atmospheric pressure, and the selectivity of aniline is much higher than that of phenol. Increasing the amount of ammonia used could increase the production of aniline without much effect on the production of phenol. This provides a new greener chemical way for the production of aniline, of which the atomic efficiency is much higher than that of the existing ways.

Key words: ANILINE, HYDROGEN PEROXIDE, NICKEL, ZIRCONIUM, CERIUM, ALUMINIUM OXIDE, OXIDATION, AMINATION, BENZENE