Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 224, 1817-1830 (2015)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2015-02501-1

Regular Article

Methanol and ethanol conversion into hydrocarbons over H-ZSM-5 catalyst

¹ IC2MP, UMR 7285 CNRS – Université de Poitiers, 4 rue Michel Brunet, 86073 Poitiers, TSA 51106, France
² LASIR, UMR 8516 CNRS – Université de Lille 1, Bâtiment C4, 59655 Villeneuve d'Ascq Cedex, France
³ IFP Energies Nouvelles, Rond-point de l'échangeur de Solaize, BP. 3, 69360 Solaize, France

^a e-mail: ludovic.pinard@univ-poitiers.fr

Received: 23 November 2014
Revised: 21 May 2015
Published online: 30 July 2015

Abstract

Ethanol and methanol are converted using H-ZSM-5 zeolite at 623 K and 3.0 MPa into identical hydrocarbons (paraffins, olefins and aromatics) and moreover with identical selectivities. The distribution of olefins as paraffins follows the Flory distribution with a growth probability of 0.53. Regardless of the alcohol, the catalyst lifetime and selectivity into hydrocarbons C₃₊ are high in spite of an important coke content. The coke that poisons the Brønsted acid sites without blocking their access is composed in part of radical polyalkylaromatics. The addition of hydroquinone, an inhibitor of radicals, to the feed, provokes an immediate catalyst deactivation.