Isobutanol
derived from biomass can serve as a potential renewable
candidate for the production of light olefins and aromatics, which
are the building blocks to manufacture fuels and chemicals in the
petrochemical industry. Dependent upon the product requirements, the
product selectivity toward olefins or aromatics can be tuned by adjusting
the reaction conditions and the properties of HZSM-5 catalysts. On
bare HZSM-5, mild conditions (low temperature, low space time, and
low acidity) favored the production of olefins and harsh conditions
(high temperature, high space time, and high acidity) were more likely
to produce aromatics. Ga was impregnated onto HZSM-5 to enhance the
production of aromatics. Unexpectedly, Ga introduction only induced
the intertransformation between olefins and aromatics without significantly
impacting the selectivity of low-value paraffins. The exchanged Ga
sites functioning together with Brønsted acid were identified
as active Ga species and strengthened the direct dehydrogenation of
C6–C8 olefins. The in situ-generated water from isobutanol dehydration affected the formation
of Ga species. This resulted in different promotional effects of Ga
on the transformation of isobutanol and isobutene. The reaction pathways
were developed on the basis of the catalyst evaluation results, in
tandem with an in situ diffuse reflectance infrared
Fourier transform spectroscopy study on the intermediates formed during
isobutanol transformation. Selectivity of olefins and aromatics from
isobutanol transformation can be tuned by adjusting reaction conditions
and properties of HZSM-5 catalysts.
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