Synthesis of mordenite by solvent-free method and its application in the dimethyl ether carbonylation reaction

Mordenite with different Si/Al ratios were synthesized by solvent-free method and used for dimethyl ether(DME)carbonylation reaction.The influence of Si/Al ratio in the feedstock on the structure,porosity and acid sites were systematically investigated.The characterization results showed that with the increase of Si/Al ratio in the feedstock,part of silicon species fail to enter the skeleton and the specific surface area and pore volume of the samples decreased.The amount of weak acid and medium strong acid decreased alongside with the increasing Si/Al ratio,and the amount of strong acid slightly increased.The Al atoms preferentially enter the strong acid sites in the 8 member ring(MR)channel during the crystallization process.The high Si/Al ratio sample had more acid sites located in the 8 MR channel,leading to more active sites for carbonylation reaction and higher catalytic performance.Appropriately increasing the Si/Al ratio was beneficial for the improvement of carbonylation reaction activity over the mordenite(MOR)catalyst.

Harnessing dimethyl ether and methyl formate fuels for direct electrochemical energy conversion

In this work,the oxidation of a mixture of dimethyl ether(DME) and methyl formate(MF) was studied in both an aqueous electrochemical cell and a vapor-fed polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell(PEMFC)utilizing a multi-metallic alloy catalyst,Pt_(3)Pd_(3)Sn_(2)/C,discovered earlier by us.The current obtained during the bulk oxidation of a DME-saturated 1 M MF was higher than the summation of the currents provided by the two fuels separately,suggesting the cooperative effect of mixing these fuels.A significant increase in the anodic charge was realized during oxidative stripping of a pre-adsorbed DME+MF mixture as compared to DME or MF individually.This is ascribed to greater utilization of specific catalytic sites on account of the relatively lower adsorption energy of the dual-molecules than of the sum of the individual molecules as confirmed by the density fu nctional theory(DFT) calculations.Fuel cell polarization was also conducted using a Pt_(3)Pd_(3)Sn_(2)/C(anode) and Pt/C(cathode) catalysts-coated membrane(CCM).The enhanced surface coverage and active site utilization resulted in providing a higher peak power density by the DME+MF mixture-fed fuel cell(123 mW cm^(-2)at 0.45 V) than with DME(84mW cm^(-2)at 0.35 V) or MF(28 mW cm^(-2)at 0.2 V) at the same total anode hydrocarbon flow rate,temperature,and ambient pressure.

Synthesis of Methyl Acetate by Dimethyl Ether Carbonylation over Cu/HMOR： Effect of Catalyst Preparation Method

Dimethyl ether carbonylation to methyl acetate was comparatively investigated over mor- denite supported copper （Cu/HMOR） catalysts prepared by different methods including evaporation, urea hydrolysis, incipient wetness impregnation and ion-exchange. The results showed that Cu/HMOR prepared via iron-exchange method exhibited the highest catalytic activity due to the synergistic effect of active-site metal and acidic molecular sieve support. Conversion of 95.3% and methyl acetate selectivity of 94.9% were achieved under conditions of 210℃, 1.5 MPa, and GSHV of 4883 h-1. The catalysts were characterized by nitrogen absorption, X-ray diffraction, NH3 temperature program desorption, and CO temperature program desorption techniques. It was found that Cu/HMOR prepared by ion-exchange method possessed high surface area, moderate strong acid centers, and CO adsorption centers, which improved catalytic performance for the reaction of CO insertion to dimethyl ether.

Effect of Calcination Temperature on Catalytic Activity and Textual Property of Cu/HMOR Catalysts in Dimethyl Ether Carbonylation Reaction

The effect of calcination temperature on the catalytic activity for the dimethyl ether （DME） carbonylation into methyl acetate （MA） was investigated over mordenite supported copper （Cu/HMOR） prepared by ion-exchange process. The results showed that the catalytic activity was obviously affected by the calcination temperature. The maximal DME conversion of 97.2% and the MA selectivity of 97.9% were obtained over the Cu/HMOR calcined at 430 ℃ under conditions of 210 ℃, 1.5 MPa, and GSHV of 4883 h^-1. The obtained Cu/HMOR catalysts were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, N2 absorption, NH3 temperature program desorption, CO temperature program desorption, and Raman techniques. Proper calcination temperature was effective to promote copper ions migration and diffusion, and led the support HMOR to possess more acid activity sites, which exhibited the complete decomposing of copper nitrate, large surface area and optimum micropore structure, more amount of CO adsorption site and proper amount of weak acid centers.

Production of Light Olefins from Biosyngas by Two-stage Catalytic Conversion Process via Dimethyl Ether

NiSAPO-34 and NiSAPO-34/HZSM-5 were prepared and evaluated for the performance of dimethyl ether （DME） conversion to light olefins （DTO）. The processes of two-stage light olefin production, DME synthesis and the following DTO, were also investigated using biosyngas as feed gas over Cu/Zn/A1/HZSM-5 and the optimized 2%NiSAPO-34/HZSM- 5. The results indicated that adding 2%Ni to SAPO-34 did not change its topology structure, but resulted in the forming of the moderately strong acidity with decreasing acid amounts, which slightly enhanced DME conversion activity and C2=-C3= selectiw ity. Mechanically mixing 2%NiSAPO-34 with HZSM-5 at the weight ratio of 3.0 further prolonged DME conversion activity to be more than 3 h, which was due to the stable acid sites from HZSM-5. The highest selectivity to light olefins of 90.8% was achieved at 2 h time on stream. The application of the optimized 2%NiSAPO-34/HZSM-5 in the second-stage reactor for DTO reaction showed that the catalytic activity was steady for more than 5 h and light olefin yield was as high as 84.6 g/m3syngas when the biosyngas （H2/CO/CO2/N2/CH4=41.5/26.9/14.2/14.6/2.89, vol%） with low H/C ratio of 1.0 was used as feed gas.

Mechanism of chain propagation for the synthesis of polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers

Polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers(PODE)were synthesized from the reaction of paraformaldehyde with dimethoxymethane(DMM)over different acid catalysts at different conditions.Products were found to follow the Schulz-Flory distribution law.The chain propagation proceeds through the insertion of an individual segment of CH2O one by one,while the simultaneous insertion of a few CH2O segments or their assembly is unlikely.Due to the restriction of this law,it is difficult to increase the selectivity to the desired products(e.g.,PODE3 4).

Chemical equilibrium controlled synthesis of polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers over sulfated titania

The chemical equilibrium and reaction kinetic behavior in the synthesis of polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers （DMMn） were investigated over sulfated titania in order to reveal the decisive factor controlling the reaction. The results showed that the molar ratio of adjacent DMMn products in equilibrium solution had the same value, which depended absolutely on the reaction temperature. Meanwhile, the reactions had the same DMMn products distributions under varied reaction conditions. The equilibrium constants of the related step-wise reactions for DMMn formation were equal, which were calculated based on the bulk compositions of the reaction solution. And thus, the selectivity to DMMn was mainly controlled by the chemical equilibrium, i.e., thermodynamic control. In brief, the present results provide some guidance for future synthesis of DMMn.

Direct Dimethyl Ether Synthesis

Dimethyl ether (DME) is a clean and economical alternative fuel which can beproduced from natural gas through synthesis gas. The properties of DME are very similar to those ofLP gas. DME can be used for various fields as a fuel such as power generation, transportation, homeheating and cooking, etc. It contains no sulfur or nitrogen. It is not corrosive to any metal andnot harmful to human body. An innovative process of direct synthesis of DME from synthesis gas hasbeen developed. Newly developed catalyst in a slurry phase reactor gave a high conversion and highselectivity of DME production. One and half year pilot scale plant (5 tons per day) testing, whichwas supported by METI, had successfully finished with about 400 tons DME production.

Modifying the acidity of H-MOR and its catalytic carbonylation of dimethyl ether

Among the reactions catalyzed by zeolites there are some that exhibit high selectivity due to the spatial confinement effect of the zeolite framework.Tailoring the acidity,particularly the distribution and location of the Bronsted acid sites in the zeolite is effective for making it a better catalyst for these reactions.We prepared a series of H-mordenite（H-MOR） samples by varying the composition of the sol-gel,using different structure directing agents and post-treatment.NH3-TPD and IR characterization of adsorbed pyridine were employed to determine the amount of Bronsted acid sites in the 8-membered ring and 12-membered ring channels.It was shown that controlled synthesis was a promising approach to improve the concentration of Bronsted acid sites in MOR,even with a low Al content.Using an appropriate composition of Si and Al in the sol-gel favored a higher proportion of Bronsted acid sites in the 8-membered ring channels.HMI as a structure-direct agent gave an obvious enrichment of Bronsted acid sites in the 8-membered ring.Carbonylation of dimethyl ether was used as a probe reaction to examine the modification of the acid properties,especially the Bronsted acid sites in the 8-membered ring channels.There was a linear relationship between methyl acetate formation and the number of Bronsted acid sites in the 8-membered ring channels,demonstrating the successful modification of acid properties.Our results provide information for the rational design and modification of zeolites with spatial constraints.

Effects of ZrO_2 on the Performance of CuO-ZnO-Al_2O_3/HZSM-5 Catalyst for Dimethyl Ether Synthesis from CO_2 Hydrogenation

A series of composite catalysts were prepared by the wet mixing method, and the mass ratio of CuO-ZnO-Al2O3-ZrO2 component to HZSM-5 zeolite （molar ratio of SiO2 to Al2O3 being 25） was 2：1. The CuO-ZnO-Al2O3-ZrO2 （CuO/ZnO/Al2O3=3/6/1 by weight） component was prepared by a modified ＇two-step＇ co-precipitation method. The effects of ZrO2 on the performance of CuO-ZnO-Al2O3/HZSMo5 catalyst for dimethyl ether synthesis from CO2 hydrogenation were investigated. It was found that ZrO2 improved the properties of CuO-ZnO-Al2O3/HZSM-5 as a structural promoter.

Catalytic performance of hierarchical H-ZSM-5/MCM-41 for methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether

Micro-mesoporous composite molecular sieves H-ZSM-5/MCM-41 were prepared by the hydrothermal technique with alkali-treated H-ZSM-5zeolite as the source and characterized by scanning electron microscopy,transmission electron microscopy,energy dispersive spectroscopy,X-ray diffraction,N2 adsorption-desorption measurement and NH3 temperature-programmed desorption.The catalytic performances for the methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether over H-ZSM-5/MCM-41 were evaluated.Among these catalysts,H-ZSM-5/MCM-41 prepared with NaOH dosage (nNa/nSi) varying from 0.4 to 0.47 presented excellent catalytic activity with more than 80%methanol conversion and 100%dimethyl ether selectivity in a wide temperature range of 170—300℃,and H-ZSM-5/MCM-41 prepared with nNa/nSi=0.47 showed constant methanol conversion of about 88.7%,100% dimethyl ether selectivity and excellent lifetime at 220℃.The excellent catalytic performances were due to the highly active and uniform acidic sites and the hierarchical porosity in the micro-mesoporous composite molecular sieves.The catalytic mechanism of H-ZSM-5/MCM-41 for the methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether process was also discussed.

Preparation of nanocrystalline γ-Al_2O_3 catalyst using different procedures for methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether

A series of nanocrystalline γ-alumina are synthesized by different procedures, namely, thermal decomposition method （sample A）, precipita-tion method （sample B） and sol-gel method using sucrose and hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide （CTAB） as templates （samples C and D, respectively）. Textural and acidic properties of γ-alumina samples are characterized by XRD, N2 adsorption-desorption and NH3-TPD techniques. Vapor-phase dehydration of methanol into dimethyl ether is carried out over these samples. Among them, sample C shows the highest catalytic activity. NH3-TPD analysis reveals that the sample with smaller crystallite size possesses higher concentration of medium acidic sites and consequently higher catalytic activity. Thermal decomposition method leads to decrease in both surface area and moderate acidity, therefore it is the cause of lower catalytic activity.

Steam Reforming of Dimethyl Ether over Coupled Catalysts of CuO-ZnO-Al2Oa-ZrO2 and Solid-acid Catalyst

Steam reforming （SR） of dimethyl ether （DME） was investigated for the production of hydrogen for fuel cells. The activity of a series of solid acids for DME hydrolysis was investigated. The solid acid catalysts were ZSM-5 [Si/A] = 25, 38 and 50： denoted Z（Si/Al）] and acidic alumina （γ-Al2O3） with an acid strength order that was Z（25）〉Z（38）〉Z（50）〉γ-Al2O3. Stronger acidity gave higher DME hydrolysis conversion. Physical mixtures containing a CuO-ZnO-Al2O3-ZrO2 catalyst and solid acid catalyst to couple DME hydrolysis and methanol SR were used to examine the acidity effects on DME SR. DME SR activity strongly depended on the activity for DME hydrolysis. Z（25） was the best solid acid catalyst for DME, SR and gave a DME conversion〉90% IT= 240℃,n（H20）/n（DME） = 3.5, space velocity = 1179 ml.（g cat）^-1.h^-1, and P= 0.1MPa]. The influences of the reaction temperature, space velocity and feed molar ratio were studied. Hydrogen production significantly depended on temperature and space velocity. A bifunctional catalyst of CuO-ZnO-Al2O3-ZrO2 catalyst and ZSM-5 gave a high H2 production rate and CO2 selectivity.

Catalytic Oxidation of Dimethyl Ether to Dimethoxymethane over Cs Modified H_3PW_(12)O_(40)/SiO_2 Catalysts

The attractive utilization route for one-step catalytic oxidation of dimethyl ether to dimethoxymethane was successfully carried out over the H3PW12O40（40%）/SiO2 catalyst, modified by Cs, K, Ni, and V. The Cs modification of H3PW12O40（40%）/SiO2 gave the most promising result of 20% dimethyl ether conversion and 34.8% dimethoxymethane selectivity. Dimethoxymethane could be synthe- sized via methoxy groups decomposed from dimethyl ether through the synergistic effect between the acid sites and the redox sites of Cs modified H3PW12O40（40%）/SiO2.

Modelling-based Optimisation of the Direct Synthesis of Dimethyl Ether from Syngas in a Commercial Slurry Reactor

In the present study, we developed a multi-component one-dimensional mathematical model for simulation and optimisation of a commercial catalytic slurry reactor for the direct synthesis of dimethyl ether （DME） from syngas and CO2, operating in a churn-turbulent regime. DME productivity and CO conversion were optimised by tuning operating conditions, such as superficial gas velocity, catalyst concentration, catalyst mass over molar gas flow rate （W/F）, syngas composition, pressure and temperature. Reactor modelling was accomplished utilising mass balance, global kinetic models and heterogeneous hydrodynamics. In the heterogeneous flow regime, gas was distributed into two bubble phases： small and large. Simulation results were validated using data obtained from a pilot plant. The developed model is also applicable for the design of large-scale slurry reactors.

Catalytic Oxidation of Dimethyl Ether to Hydrocarbons over SnO_2/MgO and SnO_2/CaO Catalysts

A novel reverse microemulsion method was used to prepare SnO2/MgO and SnO2/CaO catalysts. It was found that both the catalysts were active for the reaction of catalytic oxidation of dimethyl ether （DME） in the temperature range of 275 to 300 ℃. SnO2/CaO catalyst exhibits much higher activity than SnO2/MgO. On SnO2/CaO catalyst, DME conversion of 21.8% was obtained at 300℃, while selectivities to methyl formate （MF） and dimethoxyethane （DMET） of 19.1% and 59.0% respectively were obtained at 275 ℃.

A1_2O_3 Effect on the Catalytic Activity of Cu-ZnO-Al_2O_3-SiO_2 Catalysts for Dimethyl Ether Synthesis from CO_2 Hydrogenation

The effect of Al2O3 on the Cu-ZnO-Al2O3-SiO2 catalysts prepared by a pseudo sol-gel method has been investigated and these catalysts were characterized by XRD, H2-TPR, XPS, NH3-TPD and CO2- TPD techniques. As revealed by XRD and H2-TPR, the added alumina produces high dispersion of CuO and makes the reduction of CuO difficult. XPS analysis detects a remarkably high Al^3＋ enrichment at the surface of calcined samples, along with a decrease of Eb of Cu 2p3/2, which confirms the Cu-Al interaction. Another important role of Al203 would be to incorporate into the SiO2 structure to form the acid-base sites for ether formation. The reaction results shows that the addition of Al2O3 exhibits a promoting effect on the CO2 conversion only when its content is below 1.4%, and an optimal DME selectivity is obtained when 4.0%Al2O3 is added, indicating a better ＇synergistic effect＇ is present between the methanol forming component and the acidic component in bifunctional catalysts. Possible relationship between the catalytic activity and the Cu-Al interaction as well as the surface acidity is discussed.

Synthesis of nanocrystalline γ-Al_2O_3 by sol-gel and precipitation methods for methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether

The capability of sol-gel and conventional precipitation techniques for the synthesis of nanocrystalline γ-alumina was investigated. These catalysts were used for vapor-phase dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether in a fixed-bed reactor under the same operating conditions （T = 300 ？C, P = 1 bar, LHSV = 2.8, 11.7, 26.1 h？1） and characterized by means of N2 adsorption-desorption, NH3-TPD, XRD, TGA and SEM techniques. According to the experimental results, the catalysts prepared using sol-gel method in non-aqueous medium showed better performance compared with those prepared by other methods.

Spacial hindrance induced recovery of over-poisoned active acid sites in pyridine-modified H-mordenite for dimethyl ether carbonylation

Zeolite catalysts,such as H-mordenite(H-MOR),are readily deactivated by coke deposition in carbonylation reactions.Pyridine modification of H-MOR can improve its stability but can lead to an undesirable loss in catalytic activity.Herein,we report the intrinsic impact of the pyridine adsorption behavior on H-MOR and the spacial hindrance of the zeolite frameworks on dimethyl ether(DME)carbonylation at a molecular level.We discovered that acid sites at O2 positions,located on common walls of eight-membered ring(8-MR)side pockets and 12-MR channels,were active in DME carbonylation,but were unfortunately poisoned during pyridine modification.Density functional theory calculations revealed that the pyridine-poisoned acid sites at the O2 positions could be easily regenerated due to the spacial hindrance of the zeolite frameworks.Accordingly,they can be facilely regenerated by proper thermal treatment,which induces 60%promotion in the catalytic activity along with a high stability.Our findings demonstrate the determining role of O2 positions in H-MOR for DME carbonylation and provide a new avenue for the rational design of other efficient zeolite-relevant catalytic systems.

Study on hexaaluminate MnLaAl_(11)O_(19-δ) catalyst for catalytic combustive reaction of dimethyl ether as a new fuel

Study on catalytic combustive reaction of dimethyl ether as a new fuel was presented.Hexaaluminate catalysts were used to reduce ignition temperature so that dimethyl ether completely combusted at low temperature.Hexaaluminate catalysts MnLaAl_(11)O_(19-δ)were prepared by reverse microemulsion method.Crystalline phase and structure of the catalyst were analysed by means of TG-DTA,XRD and BET.The results show that the hexaalunminate is of magnetoplumbite structure when La is taken as mirror plane cation.Hexaalunminate phase is formed slowly via 1050℃calcined for 4 h and it can keep hexaaluminate phase and high surface area of 48 m^(2)·g^(-1)even calcined at 1200℃for 2 h.Catalytic activity of MnLaAl_(11)O_(19-δ)was tested in combustion reaction of dimethyl ether.It shows that hexaaluminate is of high activity with T_(10%)at 170℃and almost 100%conversion at 370℃.