On the route to elucidating the relationships between zeolite structure and methanol-to-olefins reaction performance

Abstract

The methanol-to-olefins (MTO) reaction produces high value-added light olefins from non-petroleum sources. Acidic zeotypes contg. cages bounded by 8-ring (small pore) windows can effectively catalyze the MTO reaction, since their cages can accommodate the necessary arom. intermediates while letting light olefin products escape. While progress on the understanding the reaction mechanisms of the MTO reaction continue, zeotype structure-MTO reaction property relationships are in their infancy. I discuss our recent work on elucidating how zeolite cage properties primarily det. reaction product distributions and our definition of the cage-defining ring that is well correlated to MTO product distributions. Addnl., I discuss how the acid site proximity and the shape of the cage can influence reaction lifetimes and coking amts. Overall, the goal is to understand desired properties of the zeotype catalyst to give a desired performance.

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