Effects of ammonium exchange and Si/Al ratio on the conversion of methanol to propylene over a novel and large partical size ZSM-5

One type of ZSM-5 zeolite with large partical size was prepared and characterized by XRD, SEM, N2 adsorption-desorption, XRF, Py-IR and NH3-TPD techniques. Effects of ammonium exchange and SiO2/Al2O3 molar ratios on the reaction of methanol to propylene (MTP) over Na-ZSM-5 and H-ZSM-5 zeolites have been studied in a fixed-bed flow reactor under the operating conditions of T = 500 °C, P = 1 atm, and WHSV = 6 h−1. Ammonium exchange led to a rapid decrease in Na content for Na-ZSM-5 zeolite. The reaction results indicated that Na-ZSM-5 and H-ZSM-5 with different SiO2/Al2O3 molar ratios all exhibited high activity for methanol conversion. Ammonium exchange and the decreased SiO2/Al2O3 molar ratio of ZSM-5 zeolite led to an increase both in strong acid sites and weak acid sites. Na-ZSM-5 with high SiO2/Al2O3 molar ratio was favorable for the formation of propylene. The highest propylene selectivity (45.9%) was obtained over Na-ZSM-5 zeolite catalyst with SiO2/Al2O3 molar ratio of 220.