Pore-mouth catalysis boosting the formation of iso-paraffins from syngas over bifunctional catalysts

Recent studies confirm that the emerging bifunctional catalysts consisting of metal oxide and zeolites can directly convert syngas into high-quality gasoline, however, the formation mechanism of iso-paraffins and the difference with the conventional FT/zeolite catalyst have not been investigated. Herein, three one-dimensional SAPO zeolites with diverse micropore sizes were synthesized and assembled with ZnAlOx with spinel structure. It was found that ZnAlOx/SAPO-41 and ZnAlOx/SAPO-11 with medium micropore sizes favored the formation of C-5-C-11 hydrocarbons with a high content of iso-paraffins. The characterizations pointed out that the formation of iso-paraffins over SAPO-11 followed a pore-mouth catalysis mechanism, which means the isomerization of linear hydrocarbons can only take place near the pore mouth region of zeolites. This mechanism only allows the formation of mono-branched iso-paraffins in the C-5-C-11 range, which are less prone to be cracked than their di-branched isomers. A careful comparative analysis between ZnAlOx/SAPO-11 and Co/H-meso-ZSM-5 was also made in terms of product distribution, activity, and stability. (c) 2021, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Recent studies have shown that bifunctional catalysts composed of metal oxide and zeolites can convert syngas into high-quality gasoline directly. SAPO-11 catalyst favors the formation of iso-paraffins through a pore-mouth catalysis mechanism.