The effects of boron and silver on the oxygen-free conversion of methane over Mo/H-ZSM-5 catalysts

The effect of adding boron (0.05–0.2 wt.%) and silver (0.5 wt.%) on the performance of Mo/H-ZSM-5 catalysts has been investigated. The results indicate that at the levels studied, boron did not influence the conversion level but improved the selectivity for C2 hydrocarbons with increasing boron content, while the selectivity for aromatics was decreased when the boron content was more than 0.05 wt.%. The selectivity for C2 hydrocarbons was increased from 4.5 to 9.5% for a boron loading of 0.2 wt.%. The presence of silver in Mo/H-ZSM-5 catalysts increased the conversion as well as the selectivity for C2 hydrocarbons and aromatics. The catalysts were characterised using TPR, NH3-TPD, UV–vis DRS, FTIR and XPS.

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