Methane dehydro-aromatization over Mo/HZSM-5 catalysts in the absence of oxygen: Effect of steam-treatment on catalyst stability

The effect of steam-treatment to HZSM-5 zeolite and Mo/HZSM-5 with a steaming time range of 0.5-1 h on the catalytic performance of methane dehydro-aromatization (MDA) over Mo/HZSM-5 catalyst prepared with impregnation has been studied in detail in combination with the characterization of 1H MAS NMR technique. Both the deactivation rate constant (kd) and the Brönsted acid sites per unit cell were calculated to quantitatively evaluate the stability of Mo/HZSM-5 catalysts treated with steam at 813 K before and after impregnation of molybdenum species, and the corresponding variation of their Brönsted acid sites. The results reveal that a V-shape relationship between kd and the number of Bl acid sites per unit cell is presented on Mo/HZSM-5 catalyst under the tested steam-treatment and reaction conditions.