Activity enhancement of Nafion resin: Vapor-phase carbonylation of dimethoxymethane over Nafion-silica composite

• Nafion-silica composite catalysts were used for the DMM carbonylation reaction.
• More accessible acid sites led to higher reactivity than pure Nafion resin.
• The high activity was attributed to the high acid strength and large size pore.

A kind of composite materials consisting of nano-sized Nafion resin homogeneously dispersed in a high-surface silica matrix was prepared by sol–gel method and used as catalysts in the vapor-phase carbonylation reaction of dimethoxymethane for production of methylmethoxy acetate. These composite catalysts showed much higher catalytic activity in comparison with the original pure Nafion resin catalyst. The remarkable improvement of catalytic performance was due to the increased accessibility of acid sites of Nafion resin in the composite catalysts. The contents of Nafion-H resin and silica precursors were found to have a great influence on the structure of the composite, resulting in different catalytic activity during DMM carbonylation reactions. Furthermore, the comparison of the composite catalysts with high-silica H-Y and H-Beta zeolite catalysts demonstrated that the excellent catalytic performance is closely related to the higher acid strength and larger pores of Nafion-silica composite materials.

Figure optionsDownload high-quality image (146 K)Download as PowerPoint slide