Catalytic aromatization of methyl bromide to aromatics over bimetallic CuO-ZnO/HZSM-5

•The aromatization of CH3Br to aromatics over CuO-ZnO catalysts was investigated.•The ZnO reduced the aromatization activity of HZSM-5 but promoted the CuO/HZSM-5.•The strong acid sites showed significant effect on the aromatization of CH3Br.•The CuO-ZnO/HZSM-5 showed the highest yield of aromatics (33.0%) at 380 °C.

The catalytic conversions of CH3Br into aromatics over HZSM-5, CuO/HZSM-5, ZnO/HZSM-5 and CuO-ZnO/HZSM-5 were investigated to study the synergistic effect of CuO and ZnO. The results showed that the yield of aromatics decreased in the order of 2%CuO-3%ZnO/HZSM-5 (27.4%) > 5%CuO/HZSM-5 (19.3%) > HZSM-5 (14.4%) > 5%ZnO/HZSM-5 (6.0%) at 360 °C under the same condition, and the bimetallic 2%CuO-3%ZnO/HZSM-5 gave 33.0% aromatic yield at 380 °C. The addition of ZnO promoted the catalytic activity of CuO in CH3Br aromatization to aromatics. The higher strong acidity significantly improved the hydrogen-transfer and aromatization reaction, increasing the yield of aromatics.

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