METAL LOADED ZEOLITE CATALYSTS FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF NATURAL GAS TO PETROCHEMICALS

ABSTRACTThe direct conversion of natural gas (methane) under non-oxidative condition to liquid fuels and chemicals of commercial importance is a process of prime importance. This process applies natural gas conversion to ethylene, benzene and little naphthalene via using fixed-bed flow reactor at 700oC, gaseous hourly space velocity (GHSV) of 1500 ml g-1 h-1 and at time-on-stream up to 240 min. This paper describes the data obtained using a catalysts prepared via impregnating the catalytic support (H-ZSM-5) with a molybdenum promoter (ammonium heptamolybdate) was compared with another catalyst prepared via mechanical mixing of Mo oxide powder with H-ZSM-5 zeolite. The data obtained reveal that the later catalyst is more active for benzene production throughout the whole time-on-stream range investigated. A Mo/SiO2 (monfunctional) catalyst was tested and found of very low activity, substantiating the necessity of combining with a zeolitic support with the Mo component. Moreover, the unloaded H-ZSM-5 was tested and found also less active. Comparing replacing H-ZSM-5 with H-BEA zeolite in the bifunctional catalyst shows the superiority of the former zeolite.