Synergistic effect of acidity and extraframework position in faujasite on renewable p-xylene production

Eyas Mahmoud

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

p-Xylene is a commodity chemical used for the manufacture of plastic bottles and textiles. For the biomass-based route from 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) and ethylene, the properties of the catalyst such as acidity effect, product selectivity and catalyst activity play an important role. To determine the effect of acidity and extraframework position in faujasite zeolite on p-xylene selectivity, type Y (Si/Al=40 and Si/Al=2.55) and X (Si/Al=1.25) zeolites containing the extraframework Lewis acids Na+, K+, Li+, Ag+ and Cu+, and a Brønsted acid-containing zeolite, HY (Si/Al=40), were prepared and tested for p-xylene production under solvent-free conditions and at low conversions (less than 35%). Here it is reported that NaX zeolite catalyses DMF and ethylene conversion to p-xylene with 91% selectivity at 30% conversion, which is better than the 25% p-xylene selectivity obtained when using HY at similar conversion. ANOVA was used to show that there is a synergistic effect between acidity and extraframework position on the rate of p-xylene production. At 7% DMF conversion, Lewis acids were more selective than the Brønsted acid tested (50 versus 30% p-xylene selectivity). p-Xylene selectivity is optimal when using Lewis acids with moderate acidity and extraframework positions located in the faujasite supercage (sites II and III).

Original languageEnglish
Article number172471
JournalRoyal Society Open Science
Volume5
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 23 2018

Keywords

  • Biomass conversion
  • DMF
  • Diels–Alder cycloaddition
  • Ethylene
  • Zeolite

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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