Comparison of Microporous/Mesoporous and Microporous HZSM-5 as Catalyst for Friedel-Crafts Alkylation of Toluene with Ethene
Journal article, 2014

In this work we investigated the effect of mesopores in a standard zeolite used as a catalyst for Friedel-Crafts alkylation of toluene with ethene. A cationic polymer was used for templating mesopores in a microporous ZSM-5 framework. The mesopore-containing zeolite was compared with a regular zeolite with only micropores with respect to conversion, yield and selectivity. The two NaZSM-5 materials were prepared with the same Si/Al molar ratio and diffuse reflection infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFT-FTIR) confirmed that the acidity of the ion-exchanged forms (HZSM-5) were identical. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) were used to determine the particle size of the zeolites, which was similar for the two HZSM-5 materials and nitrogen sorption was used to determine the surface area and pore size distribution. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis displayed typical crystalline diffraction patterns for the ZSM-5 framework for both the microporous/mesoporous and the microporous ZSM-5 materials. The results from catalytic testing show an increase in the overall conversion of toluene for the zeolite that contains mesopores. Furthermore, a higher product yield (C 9 ) is obtained for this catalyst. The increase in yield and conversion is most likely due to the mesopores; however, incorporation of mesopores in the microporous ZSM-5 framework gives only minor effects on selectivity with respect to mono- vs. dialkylation, and ortho:meta:para ratio. Consequently, this work shows that the presence of mesopores in a microporous ZSM-5 framework is beneficial for the reaction in terms of conversion of starting material and reaction yield but does not markedly affect the product composition. © 2014 the Partner Organisations.

Author

Zebastian Boström

Chalmers, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Applied Surface Chemistry

Hanna Härelind

Competence Centre for Catalysis (KCK)

Chalmers, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Applied Surface Chemistry

Börje Sten Gevert

Chalmers, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Applied Surface Chemistry

Sven-Ingvar Andersson

Chalmers, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Applied Surface Chemistry

Krister Holmberg

Chalmers, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Applied Surface Chemistry

RSC Advances

20462069 (eISSN)

Vol. 4 54 28786-28793

Subject Categories

Chemical Engineering

Areas of Advance

Materials Science

DOI

10.1039/c4ra02056a

More information

Created

10/8/2017