Low-cost synthesis of nanoaggregate SAPO-34 and its application in the catalytic alcoholysis of furfuryl alcohol

Silicoaluminophosphate-34(SAPO-34) molecular sieves have important applications in the petrochemical industry as a result of their shape selectivity and suitable acidity. In this work, nanoaggregate SAPO-34 with a large external surface area was obtained by dissolving pseudoboehmite and tetraethylorthosilicate in an aqueous solution of tetraethylammonium hydroxide and subsequently adding phosphoric acid. After hydrolysis in an alkaline solution, the aluminum and silicon precursors exist as Al(OH)4-and SiO2(OH)-, respectively;this is beneficial for rapid nucleation and the formation of nanoaggregates in the following crystallization process. Additionally, to study the effect of the external surface area and pore size on the catalytic performance of different SAPO-34 structures, the alcoholysis of furfuryl alcohol to ethyl levulinate(EL) was chosen as a model reaction. In a comparison with the traditional cube-like SAPO-34, nanoaggregate SAPO-34 generated a higher yield of 74.1% of EL, whereas that with cube-like SAPO-34 was only 19.9%. Moreover, the stability was remarkably enhanced for nanoaggregate SAPO-34. The greater external surface area and larger number of external surface acid sites are helpful in improving the catalytic performance and avoiding coke deposition.

n-Nonane hydroisomerization over hierarchical SAPO-11-based catalysts with sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate as a dispersant

To enhance the gasoline octane number,low-octane linear n-alkanes should be converted into their high-octane di-branched isomers via n-alkane hydroisomerization.Therefore,hierarchical SAPO-11-based catalysts are prepared by adding different contents of sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate(SDBS),and they are applied in n-nonane hydroisomerization.When n(SDBS)/n(SiO2)is less than or equal to 0.125,the synthesized hierarchical molecular sieves are all pure SAPO-11,and as the SDBS content increases,the submicron particle size decreases,and the external surface area(ESA)increases.Additionally,these hierarchical SAPO-11 have smaller submicron particles and higher ESA values than conventional SAPO-11.When n(SDBS)/n(SiO2)is greater than 0.125,with increasing SDBS content(n(SDBS)/n(SiO2)=0.25),the synthesized SAPO-11 contains amorphous materials,which leads to a decline in the ESA;with the further increase in SDBS content(n(SDBS)/n(SiO2)=0.5),the products are all amorphous materials.These results indicate that in the case of n(SDBS)/n(SiO2)=0.125,the synthesized SAPO-11 molecular sieve(S–S3)has the most external Brønsted acid centers and the highest ESA of these SAPO-11,and these advantages favor generation of the di-branched isomers in hydrocarbon hydroisomerization.Among these Pt/SAPO-11 catalysts,Pt/S–S3 displays the highest selectivity to entire isomers(83.4%),the highest selectivity to di-branched isomers(28.1%)and the minimum hydrocracking selectivity(15.7%)in n-nonane hydroisomerization.