Generation of Liquid Products from Natural Gas over Zeolite Catalysts

The main component of the natural gas is methane, whose molecules are characterized by a high chemical and thermal stability. It is impossible to perform the chemical transformation of natural gas into liquid organic compounds without applying highly active polyfunctional catalysts. Natural gas might be converted into liquid products in the presence of zeolite catalysts of pentasil family. Zeolite catalysts of ZSM-5 type were prepared to realize the process. They contained various amounts of Zn and Ga promoters introduced by ion exchange and impregnation. It has been shown that in the presence of small amounts of C2-C5 alkanes in the feedstock the methane is converted into aromatic hydrocarbons much more readily and in softer conditions than pure methane. At optimum process conditions reached is a high conversion of the natural gas into a mixture of aromatic hydrocarbons. This mixture mainly consists of benzene and naphthalene and small amounts of their derivatives – toluene, C8 and C9+ alkylbenzenes, methyl- and dimethylnaphthalenes. An optimum composition of zeolite matrix and the amount of the modifier in the catalyst have been established

Low-temperature CO oxidation on Ag/ZSM-5 catalysts: Influence of Si/Al ratio and redox pretreatments on formation of silver active sites

Silver catalysts supported on ZSM-5 (Si/Al = 30, 50 and 80) were investigated for low-temperature CO oxidation to study the nature of the silver active sites and their formation under the influence of the support chemical composition and redox pretreatments. The catalysts were characterized by HRTEM, FTIR, XPS, diffuse reflectance UV–Vis spectroscopy, NH3 thermodesorption (NH3 TPD) and temperature-programmed reduction (H2 TPR). The chemical composition (Si/Al ratio) of the ZSM-5 zeolite support significantly affects catalytic properties of Ag/ZSM-5 samples: the lower the Broensted acidity of the zeolite support, the higher the activity of the catalysts. Interestingly, while oxidizing pretreatment of catalysts led to a significantly better performance than reducing pretreatments, the consecutive reducing treatment of the preoxidized samples significantly promoted the catalytic activity for low-temperature CO oxidation. Thus, Ag/ZMS-5 catalyst with Si/Al = 80, pretreated consecutively in oxidizing and reducing conditions, showed the highest activity, reaching 90% CO conversion at just 40 °C. Comparison of activity and characterization results showed that silver particles with size below 2 nm are the most active; larger particles are just “spectators”. The most probable silver active centers in the low-temperature CO oxidation are ionic species, mostly charged clusters Agnδ+, strongly interacting with the support. The obtained results in low-temperature CO oxidation might be of particular interest for neutralization of exhaust gases of car engines during “cold start”

Low-temperature CO oxidation on Ag/ZSM-5 catalysts: Influence of Si/Al ratio and redox pretreatments on formation of silver active sites

Silver catalysts supported on ZSM-5 (Si/Al = 30, 50 and 80) were investigated for low-temperature CO oxidation to study the nature of the silver active sites and their formation under the influence of the support chemical composition and redox pretreatments. The catalysts were characterized by HRTEM, FTIR, XPS, diffuse reflectance UV–Vis spectroscopy, NH3 thermodesorption (NH3 TPD) and temperature-programmed reduction (H2 TPR). The chemical composition (Si/Al ratio) of the ZSM-5 zeolite support significantly affects catalytic properties of Ag/ZSM-5 samples: the lower the Broensted acidity of the zeolite support, the higher the activity of the catalysts. Interestingly, while oxidizing pretreatment of catalysts led to a significantly better performance than reducing pretreatments, the consecutive reducing treatment of the preoxidized samples significantly promoted the catalytic activity for low-temperature CO oxidation. Thus, Ag/ZMS-5 catalyst with Si/Al = 80, pretreated consecutively in oxidizing and reducing conditions, showed the highest activity, reaching 90% CO conversion at just 40 °C. Comparison of activity and characterization results showed that silver particles with size below 2 nm are the most active; larger particles are just “spectators”. The most probable silver active centers in the low-temperature CO oxidation are ionic species, mostly charged clusters Agnδ+, strongly interacting with the support. The obtained results in low-temperature CO oxidation might be of particular interest for neutralization of exhaust gases of car engines during “cold start”