Pore engineering of zeolites as a strategy to improve the performance and minimize deactivation by coke in methanol reactions

Abstract

This proposal aims to study the engineering of pores of zeolitic catalysts for the efficient conversion of methanol into products by means of MTO and MTG reactions (Methanol To Olefins and Methanol To Gasoline). These reactions are extremely important for methanol conversion, but suffer from excessive deactivation due to coke deposition. Improving the performance of catalysts necessarily involves synthesizing catalysts with suitable pores, that is, with corresponding size, volume and connectivity. There are several ways to obtain methanol, such as catalytic conversion of synthesis gas, hydrogenation of carbon dioxide, or by direct oxidation of methane. In common is the initial conversion of CO2 and CH4. In this way, this proposal contributes with the several studies of environmental catalysis, particularly in the transformation of two known greenhouse gases in products. We will use zeolitic catalysts modified by synthesis processes of the mordenite and ZSM-5 zeolites. The processes will involve zeolite embryos and synthesis using surfactants, aiming to obtain hierarchical mesoporosity. We will evaluate the time, the temperature of synthesis and aging, the precursors, which will be later characterized to establish the synthesis-property-function relationship in order to find porous structures with specific application for the MTO and MTG reactions. These strategies are expected to have improved mass transfer and decreased coke formation rate compared to their traditional microporous counterparts. (AU)