Kinetic study of the simultaneous cracking of paraffins and methanol on HZSM-5 zeolite catalysts

A study has been carried out on the effect of acid catalyst properties and operating conditions (methanol/n-butane ratio in the feed, temperature, space time, time on stream) on the yield of light olefins (C2-C4) in the simultaneous cracking of n-butane and methanol. The operation has been carried out in an isothermal fixed bed reactor in the 400-575 degrees C range, using catalysts prepared based on HZSM-5 zeolites (with different Si/Al ratio), HY, Ni/HZSM-5 and SAPO-18. The results are evidence of a synergism between the transformation reactions of both reactants, whose consequence is an increase in the yield of olefins that correspond to the transformation of methanol and the cracking of n-butane. Furthermore, catalyst deactivation by coke is significantly attenuated compared to the corresponding transformation of methanol. Based on the effect of operating conditions on product distribution, a kinetic model is proposed by combining the schemes corresponding to the transformation of individual components.