(532bd) Ce Added Mo/HZSM-5 Catalyst for Natural Gas Dehydroaromatization and Regeneration

Development of mining technology led to considerable amount of natural gas underground. Natural gas dehydroaromatization is eco-friendly reaction that can replace current BTX manufacturing process from crude oil. But this catalytic reaction loses its activity due to coke accumulation at high temperature. Many researches are going on to solve this problem and oxidative regeneration of catalyst is in the spotlight for development of commercially available non-oxidative BTX manufacturing process. But Mo/HZSM-5 catalyst, which is widely used for dehydroaromatization, also loses its catalytic activity during oxidative regeneration process. Al site, which is catalytic site for dehydroaromatization in zeolite combines with Mo to produce Al₂(MoO₄)₃ at high-temperature oxidative condition. To solve this problem, decrease of coke oxidation temeprature can be possible way. Al₂(MoO₄)₃ is easily produced at high temperature, so with low temperature regeneration process, this side-reaction could be prevented.

In this research, Ce is introduced to Mo/HZSM-5 for effective oxidation of coke to induce efficient reaction and regeneration process. CeO₂ is widely used for low temperature oxidation catalyst because of its high oxygen storage capacity and ability to make active oxygen. Ce is introduced to Mo/HZSM-5 by physical mixing and to framework of MFI zeolite by hydrothermal method, so high quality of coke removal at low temeperature is obtained. Several characterization of catalysts and natural gas dehydroaromatization reaction & oxidative regeneration experiments were conducted.