Unraveling the mechanisms of ketene generation and transformation in syngas-to-olefin conversion over ZnCrO x |SAPO-34 catalysts

. The presence of the ketene pathway significantly alters the catalytic performance in the zeolite, as methanol carbonylation to ketene is kinetically more efficient in competing with conventional methanol-to-olefins (MTO) conversion and thus predominantly drives the product to ethene. Based on our microkinetic simulation, it is the methanol carbonylation activity in the zeolite that dictates the performance of STO catalysts.