Intrinsic Kinetics of Ethanol Dehydration Over Lewis Acidic Ordered Mesoporous Silicate, Zr-KIT-6

Lewis acidic Zr-KIT-6 catalyst was tested for ethanol dehydration. Under the reaction conditions studied (T = 300-380 degrees C, P = 1 atm, P (ethanol) = 5 % in N-2), Zr-KIT-6 materials showed high ethylene selectivity (similar to 80 %) with stable activity (60 h). The activation energy for ethanol dehydration to ethylene, estimated from intrinsic rate constants normalized with respect to the Lewis acid sites, was approximately 79 +/- 1 kJ/mol.