The beneficial use of ultrasound in synthesis of nanostructured Ce-doped SAPO-34 used in methanol conversion to light olefins

• Successful introduction of Ce into SAPO-34 framework using ultrasound pretreatment.
• Using ultrasound resulted in higher specific surface area.
• Particle size reduction identified for the ultrasound-assisted catalyst.
• Ultrasound-assisted catalyst showed longer life time in methanol to olefin process.

Methanol to olefins process is an interesting route for synthesis of light olefins over nanostructured catalysts. The present research deals with catalyst development by sonochemical method for methanol to olefins reaction with the aim of reaching the most efficient catalyst. The CeSAPO-34 catalyst was prepared via ultrasound assisted hydrothermal method and characterized by XRD, FESEM, PSD, EDX, BET and FTIR techniques. The characteristics and performance of this sample were compared to the catalyst prepared by conventional hydrothermal method. XRD patterns reflected the higher crystallinity of the catalyst synthesized by ultrasound application. In comparison, particles with smaller sizes obtained by applying ultrasonic irradiation. The catalyst obtained using ultrasound had the longer lifetime and sustained desired light olefins at higher values.