A specific one-step mild dealumination of ZSM-5 is reported that increases significantly para xylene selectivity and ethyl benzene conversion in the xylene isomerization reaction of xylene mixtures/ethyl benzene feeds at industrial conditions.
In this article, a binderless dealuminated HZSM-5 zeolite (Si/Al = 41.4) was used as a catalyst for the isomerization of a mixture of ethylbenzene and xylene. The experimental results indicated that at low residence times the catalyst is effective to isomerize the ethylbenzene into xylenes. A comprehensive kinetic model considering chemisorption, surface chemical reactions, and diffusional processes was developed for this reaction. The intrinsic activation energy (71.99 kJ mol −1 ) for the surface reaction of ethylbenzene into m-xylene was calculated for the first time, and the corresponding intrinsic activation energies for o-xylene to m-xylene and m-xylene to p-xylene surface reactions were calculated to be 59.45 and 50.68 kJ mol −1 , respectively. Lower apparent values have been reported in the literature, and we rationalize that they correspond to multistep processes and intrinsically include a negative activation energy pertaining to chemisorption. The results also revealed that the ethylbenzene diffusion within the zeolite channels was four orders of magnitude smaller than p-xylene.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.