Synthesis of hierarchical porous H-mordenite zeolite for carbonylation of dimethyl ether

A series of hierarchical porous mordenite zeolites were prepared by adding soft template during hydrothermal process for carbonylation of dimethyl ether (DME) to methyl acetate (MA). The synthesized mordenite catalysts were systematically characterized by XRD, BET, ICP-AES, NH3-TPD, Py-IR, FTIR, HRTEM, SEM, TG, Al-27 NMR, Si-29 NMR and GC-MS. The characterization results confirmed that mordenite zeolites with mesoporous structure showed more framework aluminum and more Bronsted acid sites of 8-membered ring (8-MR), which promoted conversion of DME and MA selectivity. The hierarchical porous mordenite had increased the mass transfer efficiency and showed less acidity of 12-membered ring (12-MR), thus suppressing the formation of coke. Measurements of changes in the chemical composition of the coke by GC-MS showed the growth mechanism of coke molecules in the mordenite zeolites.