Dimethyl Ether to Olefins over Modified ZSM-5 Based Catalysts Stabilized by Hydrothermal Treatment

A Review on Deactivation and Regeneration of Catalysts for Dimethyl Ether Synthesis

The deactivation of catalysts and their regeneration are two very important challenges that need to be addressed for many industrial processes. The most quoted reasons for the deterioration of dimethyl ether synthesis (DME) concern the sintering and the hydrothermal leaching of copper particles, their migration to acid sites, the partial formation of copper and zinc hydroxycarbonates, the formation of carbon deposits, and surface contamination with undesirable compounds present in syngas. This review summarises recent findings in the field of DME catalyst deactivation and regeneration. The most-used catalysts, their modifications, along with a comparison of the basic parameters, deactivation approaches, and regeneration methods are presented.

Modified natural kaolin clay as an active, selective, and stable catalyst for methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether

In this work, the production of dimethyl ether (DME) from methanol over natural kaolin clay modified through impregnation with various percentages of H₂SO₄, WO₃, or ZrO₂ catalysts was investigated. The prepared catalysts were characterized via X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and N₂-sorption analysis. The acidity of these catalysts was determined through the dehydration of isopropyl alcohol and the chemisorption of pyridine. The catalytic activity performance revealed that the addition of modifiers into kaolin enhanced the latter’s activity toward DME production. In addition, the kaolin clay modified with 10 wt% ZrO₂ exhibited excellent activity of 98% conversion with 100% selectivity at 275 °C. Moreover, this catalyst could proceed the reaction for a long time (6 days) without any noticeable deactivation. The remarkable improvement in the catalytic performance achievement was well correlated with the acidity and the structure of the catalysts.

Synthesis of MeOH and DME From CO2 Hydrogenation Over Commercial and Modified Catalysts

Growing concern about climate change has been driving the search for solutions to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. In this context, carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technologies have been proposed and developed as a way of giving CO2 a sustainable and economically viable destination. An interesting approach is the conversion of CO2 into valuable chemicals, such as methanol (MeOH) and dimethyl ether (DME), by means of catalytic hydrogenation on Cu-, Zn-, and Al-based catalysts. In this work, three catalysts were tested for the synthesis of MeOH and DME from CO2 using a single fixed-bed reactor. The first one was a commercial CuO/γ-Al2O3; the second one was CuO-ZnO/γ-Al2O3, obtained via incipient wetness impregnation of the first catalyst with an aqueous solution of zinc acetate; and the third one was a CZA catalyst obtained by the coprecipitation method. The samples were characterized by XRD, XRF, and N2 adsorption isotherms. The hydrogenation of CO2 was performed at 25 bar, 230°C, with a H2:CO2 ratio of 3 and space velocity of 1,200 ml (g cat · h)−1 in order to assess the potential of these catalysts in the conversion of CO2 to methanol and dimethyl ether. The catalyst activity was correlated to the adsorption isotherms of each reactant. The main results show that the highest CO2 conversion and the best yield of methanol are obtained with the CZACP catalyst, very likely due to its higher adsorption capacity of H2. In addition, although the presence of zinc oxide reduces the textural properties of the porous catalyst, CZAWI showed higher CO2 conversion than commercial catalyst CuO/γ-Al2O3.

Dual-Cycle Mechanism Based Kinetic Model for DME-to-Olefin Synthesis on HZSM-5-Type Catalysts

A kinetic model for the olefins synthesis from dimethyl ether on zeolite HZSM-5 based catalysts is developed. The model includes the reaction pathways for the synthesis of olefins from oxygenates in the olefinic and aromatic cycles according to modern concepts of the dual-cycle reaction mechanism. The kinetic parameters were determined for the time-stable hydrothermally treated catalysts of various activities Mg-HZSM-5/Al2O3, HZSM-5/Al2O3, and Zr-HZSM-5/Al2O3. The kinetic parameters determination and the solution of the ordinary differential equations system were carried out in the Python software environment. The preliminary estimation of the kinetic parameters was carried out using the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm, and the parameters were refined using the genetic algorithm. It is shown that reactions activation energies for different catalysts are close, which indicates that the priority of the reaction paths on the studied catalysts is the same. Thus, the topology of the zeolite plays a leading role in the determination of the synthesis routes, rather than the nature of the modifying metal. The developed model fits the experimental data obtained in an isothermal reactor in the range of temperature 320–360 °C, specified contact time 0.1–3.6 h*gcat/gC with a relative error of less than 15%.

n-Butene Synthesis in the Dimethyl Ether-to-Olefin Reaction over Zeolites

Zeolite catalysts that could allow the efficient synthesis of n-butene, such as 1-butene, trans-2-butene, and cis-2-butene, in the dimethyl ether (DME)-to-olefin (DTO) reaction were investigated using a fixed-bed flow reactor. The zeolites were characterized by N2 adsorption and desorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetry (TG), and NH3 temperature-programmed desorption (NH3-TPD). A screening of ten available zeolites indicated that the ferrierite zeolite with NH4+ as the cation showed the highest n-butene yield. The effect of the temperature of calcination as a pretreatment method on the catalytic performance was studied using three zeolites with suitable topologies. The calcination temperature significantly affected DME conversion and n-butene yield. The ferrierite zeolite showed the highest n-butene yield at a calcination temperature of 773 K. Multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the correlation between the six values obtained using N2 adsorption/desorption and NH3-TPD analyses, and the n-butene yield. The contribution rate of the strong acid site alone as an explanatory variable was 69.9%; however, the addition of micropore volume was statistically appropriate, leading to an increase in the contribution rate to 76.1%. Insights into the mechanism of n-butene synthesis in the DTO reaction were obtained using these parameters.

Catalytic Conversion of Free Fatty Acids to Bio-Based Aromatics: A Model Investigation Using Oleic Acid and an H-ZSM-5/Al2O3 Catalyst

The catalytic conversion of oleic acid to aromatics (benzene, toluene, and xylenes, BTX) over a granular H-ZSM-5/Al₂O₃ catalyst (ϕ 1.2-1.8 mm, 10 g loading) was investigated in a continuous bench-scale fixed-bed reactor (10 g oleic acid h^-1). A peak carbon yield of aromatics of 27.4% was obtained at a catalyst bed temperature of 550 °C and atmospheric pressure. BTX was the major aromatics formed (peak carbon yield was 22.7%), and a total BTX production of 1000 mg g^-1 catalyst was achieved within a catalyst lifetime of 6.5 h for the fresh catalyst. The catalyst was deactivated due to severe coke deposition (ca. 22.1 wt % on the catalyst). The used catalyst was reactivated by an ex situ oxidative regeneration at 680 °C in air for 12 h. The regenerated catalyst was subsequently recycled, and in total, 7 cycles of reaction-regeneration were performed. A gradual decrease in the peak carbon yield of BTX was observed with reaction-regeneration cycles (e.g., to 16.3% for the catalyst regenerated for 6 times). However, the catalyst lifetime was remarkably prolonged (e.g., >24 h), leading to a significantly enhanced total BTX production (e.g., 3000 mg g^-1 catalyst in 24 h). The fresh, used, and regenerated catalysts were characterized by N₂ and Ar physisorption, XRD, HR-TEM-EDX, ²⁷Al, and ²⁹Si MAS ssNMR, NH₃-TPD, TGA, and CHN elemental analysis. Negligible changes in textural properties, crystalline structure, and framework occurred after one reaction-regeneration cycle, except for a slight decrease in acidity. However, dealumination of the H-ZSM-5 framework was observed after 7 cycles of reaction-regeneration, leading to a decrease in microporosity, crystallinity, and acidity. Apparently, these changes are not detrimental for catalyst activity, and actually, the lifetime of the catalyst increases, rationalized by considering that coke formation rates are retarded when the acidity is reduced.