Catalytic performance of imidazole modified HZSM-5 for methanol to aromatics reaction

A facile approach was developed for the preparation of nano-sized HZSM-5 with a hierarchical mesoporous structure by adding imidazole into conventional zeolite synthesis precursor solution. The physicochemical properties of modified HZSM-5 were characterized by X-ray diffraction（XRD）, N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms, scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, NH3-temperature-programmed desorption（NH3-TPD） and pyridine adsorption infrared spectroscopy（Py-IR）. The coke in spent catalysts was characterized by thermogravimetry（TG）. The results showed that hierarchical HZSM-5 zeolites with excellent textural properties, such as abundant porous structure, uniform particle size and suitable acidity, could be synthesized by the recipe of one-pot synthesis routes. Moreover, the obtained HZSM-5 exhibited higher selectivity of total aromatics as well as longer lifetime in the catalytic conversion of methanol to aromatics, comparing with conventional HZSM-5. It is expected that the synthesis approach demonstrated here will be applicable to other zeolites with particular textural properties and controllable particle sizes, facilitating the emergence of new-type porous materials and their related applications in catalysis and separation.