Conversion of methane to aromatics over Mo2C/ZSM-5 catalyst in different reactor types

Dehydroaromatization of methane is an interesting field with a lot of investigations performed during recent years. In the present work Mo2C/ZSM-5 was investigated for methane dehydroaromatization (MDA) activity in fixed and fluidized bed reactors. Better yields can be achieved in the fluidized bed reactor compared to the fixed bed reactor, but a long-term deactivation of the catalyst occurs more quickly. Mechanical stability of the catalyst was not high enough to be applied in the fluidized bed for a long time period. The influence of VHSV (volume hourly space velocity) as well as the effect of different temperatures was investigated in the fixed bed reactor. The addition Of CO2 as a co-feed gas in fixed and fluidized bed reactors was studied, too. Detrimental effect of carbon dioxide on MDA reaction was detected. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.