Abstract: Rice husk silica catalyst loaded with 10 wt% vanadium was synthesized from agricultural biomass via a sol-gel synthetic route at pH = 9. The catalyst was characterized by different physico-chemical methods. The FTIR spectra showed the formation of Si–O–V and V=O stretching bands. The presence of vanadium was confirmed by EDX elemental analysis. RH-10V possessed a high specific surface area of 276 m²/g and pore volume of 0.83 ml/g. The prepared catalyst possessed a narrow pore size distribution centered around 7.9 nm. The catalytic performance of RH-10V was tested in the oxidation of acetophenone at 70 °C. RH-10V was found to be an active catalyst in the oxidation of acetophenone, producing 36.28% conversion efficiency. The products identified were benzoic acid, 2-hydroxyacetophenone, phenol, acetic acid, and 3-hydroxyacetophenone.

Key words: vanadium, rice husk silica, oxidation, acetophenone, sol-gel technique