Abstract: Catalytic hydrogenation of cardanol was carried out by using Raney nickel as catalyst. The effects of reaction temperature, hydrogen pressure, reaction time, amount of catalyst, stirring speed on the conversion of cardanol were systematically studied, and the stability of catalyst was also investigated. Results showed that at conditions of temperature 118℃, reaction time 4.5h, catalyst amount 1.38%(based on material mass), hydrogen pressure 3.6MPa, and stirring speed 400r/min, the conversion of cardanol reached 100%. The catalyst was not obviously deactivated after being used for 6 cycles. The product was purified by distillation and crystallization, to obtained m-pentadecylphenol of high purity which was characterized in this work.

Key words: cardanol, catalysis, hydrogenation