Effects of SiO2/Al2O3, MgO modification and hydrothermal treatment on the catalytic activity of HZSM-5 zeolites in the methylation of 4-methylbiphenyl with methanol

• The objective of this work is to study the effects Of SiO2/Al2O3 of HZSM-5, MgO modification and hydrothermal treatment on methylation of 4-methylbiphenyl (4-MBP) with methanol under fixed-bed down-flow conditions. The results show that, with an increase in the SiO2/Al2O3 of HZSM-5 (from 50 to 150, molar ratio), the selectivity to 4,4'-dimethylbiphenyl (4,4'-DMBP) increases from 25 to 79%. MgO modification also increases the selectivity to 4,4'-DMBP, but leads as well to low catalyst activity and rapid deactivation. Hydrothermal treatment not only increases the selectivity, but also improves the stability. When CBV1502 (SiO2/Al2O3 = 150) catalyst was hydrothermally treated at 500degreesC, the selectivity to 4,4'-DMBP increased to 85%. The selectivity to 4,4'-DMBP was further improved to about 90% by the increasing in the amount of mesitylene in the feed as solvent.

Nyckelord

shape selectivity

4-methylbiphenyl

methylation

HZSM-5

SiO2/Al2O3

MgO modification

hydrothermal treatment

shape-selective alkylation

polynuclear aromatics

specialty chemicals

mfi structure

naphthalene

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