Noncatalytic thermal conversion of light olefins proceeds
at industrially
relevant rates at temperatures above 450 °C and pressures above
50 bar. The discovery of solid acid oligomerization catalysts permitted
the use of milder conditions (<300 °C) and significantly improved
the octane rating. However, Brønsted acid catalysts deactivate
and must be regenerated frequently. In this study, at reaction temperatures
of about 250–450 °C and pressures of 1 to 40 bar, olefins
react on γ-alumina to form higher molecular weight products.
The rate of propylene is about ten times higher than that of ethylene.
The products, however, are not a simple olefin oligomerization distribution,
and many nonoligomer products are formed. The primary products undergo
secondary reactions, including double bond isomerization and H-transfer,
giving moderate selectivities for saturated products. Depending on
the conversion, temperature, and pressure, the rate of ethylene conversion
on alumina is more than 100 times that of thermal, noncatalytic conversion.
The apparent activation energy for ethylene conversion is 55–75
kJ/mol, which is much lower than ∼244 kJ/mol observed for the
thermal gas-phase reaction. On alumina, some reactants and products
undergo disproportionation reactions. For example, propylene forms
equal molar amounts of ethylene and iso-butene even
at very low conversions. Lewis acid sites on γ-alumina have
previously been proposed as the active site for double bond isomerization
and H–D exchange. Thus, it seems likely that Lewis acid sites
are also catalytic for olefin oligomerization and disproportionation
reactions. With the γ-alumina catalyst, high liquid yields can
be achieved with little formation of coke and minimal deactivation
for at least several days.