Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.47, No.9, 2970-2975, 2008
Activity of oxalic acid treated ZnO/CuO/HZSM-5 catalyst for the transformation of methanol to gasoline range hydrocarbons
The present study describes the stability of oxalic acid treated ZnO/CuO/HZSM-5 catalyst for the conversion of methanol to gasoline range hydrocarbons. A 0.5 wt % ZnO/7 wt % CuO/HZSM-5 catalyst was prepared by the wet impregnation method followed by dealumination using oxalic acid. Fresh and used catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, surface area analysis, pore size analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, NH3 temperature programmed desorption, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. All the kinetic experiments were carried out in an isothermal fixed bed reactor at 673 K. The major liquid reaction products were cyclopentene, n-hexane, I-octene, cycloheptane, 2,5-dimethylhexane, n-nonane, cyclohexane, ethylbenzene, xylene, toluene, isopropylbenzene, trimethylbenzene, and tetramethylbenzene. The effect of run time was also studied to investigate the effect of oxalic acid treatment on catalyst stability. The oxalic acid treated catalyst was more resistant to deactivation compared to the untreated 0.5 wt %/ZnO 7 wt % CuO/HZSM-5 catalyst.