Zirconia with high surface area (247 m 2/g) obtained by digesting sol gel of hydrous zirconia was used as a carrier of the B 2O 3/ZrO 2 catalyst for the gas phase Beckmann rearrangement of cyclohexanone oxime to form caprolactam. Effects of boria loading and activation calcination temperature on the catalyst performance were investigated. The optimization of the boria loading and the calcination temperature leads to a highly stable and regenerable B 2O 3/ZrO 2 catalyst for the rearrangement reaction. When the boria loading is 26 9% and the catalyst is calcined at 600 ℃, the B 2O 3/ZrO 2 shows the best performance, and it has been one of the best solid catalysts for the gas phase Beckmann rearrangement so far.
