Catalytic conversion of methanol to propylene over high-silica mesoporous ZSM-5 zeolites prepared by different combinations of mesogenous templates

• Hierarchical mesoporous zeolites were synthesized under hydrothermal condition.
• TPOAC, CTAB, and their combinations were used as mesopore-generating agent.
• Conversion of methanol to propylene over mesoporous ZSM-5 zeolites was performed.
• The results were compared with a conventional microporous ZSM-5 catalyst.
• Catalyst prepared with TPOAC/CTAB = 3 displayed reliable MTP catalytic performance.

The effects of mesoporosity on catalytic performance of methanol to propylene (MTP) reaction have been investigated by using a series of high-silica nanosized hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolites with different degrees of mesoporosity, which were hydrothermally synthesized in the presence of different mesogenous templates, i.e., TPOAC, CTAB, and their combinations. The results were compared with a conventional microporous ZSM-5 catalyst. The prepared catalysts were characterized by XRD, FE-SEM, BET, NH3-TPD and FT-IR techniques. Meanwhile, their catalytic activities were evaluated in a fixed-bed reactor under atmospheric pressure, 460 °C and WHSV of 1 h−1. Compared with conventional catalyst, the nanosized hierarchical porous ZSM-5 templated with a mixture of 75% TPOAC and 25% CTAB displayed reliable MTP catalytic lifetime (76 h) as well as sufficiently high propylene selectivity (43.65%) and propylene to ethylene (P/E) ratio (4.05), which were predominately attributed to its optimal combination of acidity and porosity.