Effect of silicon content on the catalytic behavior of chabazite type silicoaluminophosphate in the transformation of methanol to short chain olefins

•SAPO-34 has been synthesized with different silicon framework contents.•It has been studied the relationship between silicon content and catalytic performance in MTO.•The most important factor affecting the catalytic properties in this work is the crystal size.

AlPO-34 and SAPO-34 molecular sieves with different silicon content have been synthesized using a hydrothermal system in presence of tetraethylammonium hydroxide (TEAOH) and evaluated as catalysts for the transformation of methanol to short chain olefins. The results showed that SAPO-34 materials prepared with medium-high silicon concentration in the framework present quite similar silicon environment distributions and, when it is so, the key factor to obtain materials with improved catalytic performance is the crystallite size.

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