Synthesized high-silica hierarchical porous ZSM-5 and optimization of its reaction conditions in benzene alkylation with methanol

In our present work, the high-silica hierarchical porous ZSM-5 with appropriate Bronsted acidity and hierarchical porous structure was synthesized by sol-gel method for continuously catalytic conversion of benzene alkylation with methanol to xylene. The effects of temperature, pressure, benzene/methanol molar ratio and weight hour space velocity (WHSV) on the catalytic performance of the catalyst were investigated as well. As a result, the high-silica hierarchical porous ZSM-5 showed great performance as the yield of xylene was up to 41.1% under the optimum reaction conditions (500 degrees C, 0.1 MPa, M-benzene/M-methanol = 1:1.5 and WHSV= 4 h(-1)), while the selectivity to by-product, ethylbenzene, was well suppressed (below 0.1%). In addition, the catalyst structure and properties were characterized by the means of XRD, IR, TPD, SEM, TEM and N-2 physical adsorption technologies. (C) 2018 Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.