Mechanisms into dehydroaromatization of bio-derived limonene to p-cymene over Pd/HZSM-5 in the presence and absence of H2

The mechanisms of dehydroaromatization of limonene to p-cymene are intrinsically investigated over Pd/HZSM-5 under different N2/H2 atmospheres using the mathematical tool of Matlab. It is found that the dehydroaromatization reaction network starts with the isomerization step, and is followed by the sequential dehydrogenation in the presence of N2 or H2 at the selected system. The addition of hydrogen in the atmosphere would not change this reaction pathway, but leads to lower selectivity of p-cymene due to the accelerated hydrogenation rates on the double bonds. Besides, the additional hydrogen speeds up the overall reaction by facilitating the isomerization step on limonene while impeding its reverse reaction, as isomerization of limonene is proved to be the determining step of the whole dehydroaromatization reaction. Furthermore, the presence of hydrogen dramatically decreases the apparent and true activity energy of the target dehydroaromatization reaction and reduces the impact of temperatures to such processes compared to that with a N2 gas carrier.