EFFECT OF DEALUMINATION ON THE CATALYTIC ACTIVITY OF ACID ZEOLITES FOR THE GAS-PHASE SYNTHESIS OF MTBE

The gas phase MTBE synthesis reaction was studied on a number of zeoli te catalysts, in order to obtain a better understanding of the impact of acidity on zeolite activity for MTBE formation away from thermodyna mic equilibrium limitations. The catalysts investigated included a ser ies of dealuminated HY zeolites with different acid properties. In add ition, H-ZSM-5, an amorphous silica-alumina, and Amberlyst-15 resin we re investigated for comparison. An increase in acidity of the HY zeoli tes produced by dealumination was found to result in a significant enh ancement in the intrinsic activity for MTBE formation. The ratio of ex tra-lattice to lattice Al appears to be an important parameter for det ermining the catalytic behavior of zeolites for this reaction.