Alkylation of Benzene by Methanol: Thermodynamics Analysis for Designing and Designing for Enhancing the Selectivity of Toluene and Para-Xylene

The process of benzene/methanol alkylation reaction was studied thermodynamically based on functional group contribution method of Benson. Results show that ortho -xylene (OX), Ethyl-benzene (EB) and tri-methylbenzene (TMB) are the main byproduct in alkylation of benzene by methanol and the suppression of OX, EB and TMB over hierarchical porous HZSM-5 or other types of acidic solid catalysts still remains a great challenge. To overcome these limitations, we modified hierarchical ZSM-5 with ruthenium (Ru) to evaluate the alkylation of benzene with methanol in a fixed-bed continuous flow reactor. It was found that the presence of a small amount of Ru in ZSM-5 catalyst would largely suppress the formation of EB, reduce the selectivity of OX and TMB, and also extend greatly the live time of the catalyst. Alkylation of benzene by methanol: thermodynamics analysis for designing and designing for enhancing the selectivity of toluene and para-xylene. Graphical Abstract Alkylation of benzene by methanol: thermodynamics analysis for designing and designing for enhancing the selectivity of toluene and para -xylene