Efficient Utilization of Hydrocarbon Mixture to Produce Aromatics over Zn/ZSM-5 and Physically Mixed with ZSM-5

A mixture of saturated and unsaturated light hydrocarbon was used as feed gas for the production of aromatics. Natural gas liquids (NGL) from gas fields and hydrocarbon molecules obtained in the middle of conversion processes could be considered a kind of light hydrocarbon mixture. Therefore, for the conversion of the mixture into aromatics compounds, Zn-impregnated ZSM-5 catalysts were prepared and evaluated by employing different loading of Zn. In addition, the catalytic performance was tested and compared by charging physically mixed two different kinds of catalysts in the bed. The NH3-TPD result showed that the impregnation of Zn led to an increase in the number of medium-strength acid sites, whereas those of weak and strong acid sites were decreased. From the results of the catalytic activity tests, 0.5Zn/ZSM-5 showed the highest aromatics yield. As the amount of Zn loading was further increased to 1 wt.%, the yield of aromatics decreased. The test result in the case of the physically mixed catalysts showed a slightly lower yield in terms of total aromatics, but showed the highest BTX yield. To reveal the relative contribution of each hydrocarbon conversion to aromatics yield, each C2 compound was separately tested for aromatization over Zn/ZSM-5.