Leadership Panel Discussion with Shailendra Bordawekar (AbbVie), Jean Tom (BMS), Aaron Cote (Merck), Vaso Vlachos (Autochem), Jason Tedrow (Sanofi) and Deepak Jain (Zoetis)

As light alkane resources have become more available due to technological developments including hydraulic fracturing, horizontal drilling, and the abundance of shale gas reserves, methods to convert these resources to aromatics has become increasingly desirable. One process for converting shale gas (especially ethane, propane, and butane) to benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX) is through catalytic dehydrogenation followed by aromatization of the respective olefins (i.e. ethene, propene, and butene) [1]. Previous studies suggest that the use of a bifunctional dehydrogenation (e.g. Ga, Zn, or Pt) and acid catalyst (e.g. H-ZSM-5, SPA) increases the aromatization rate and selectivity to BTX. However, these studies compare catalysts at equivalent space velocity, or at equivalent propene conversion; they do not account for the reactive species that are formed as intermediates during olefin aromatization [2].

This study demonstrates the differences between BTX formation from propylene in the presence and absence of dehydrogenation catalysts (i.e., PtZn). Further, it indicates how propylene conversion is an inaccurate descriptor of the progress of the reaction, and when using a more complete description (i.e., conversion of all reactive species), the presence of the dehydrogenation catalyst does not significantly impact the selectivity to aromatics.

In this study, physical mixtures of H-ZSM-5 (Si/Al = 40) and PtZn/SiO₂ are compared to solely H-ZSM-5 for propene aromatization at 723 K - 823 K. During propene aromatization, a large number of products are formed: stable products (i.e., BTX, methane, and ethane) and reactive species (i.e., ethene, butenes, etc.). Reactive species will continue to react and form aromatic products, thus describing reaction progress in terms of conversion of all reactive species as opposed to solely propylene conversion is more accurate. When measuring reaction progress using propylene conversion, the presence of PtZn mixed with H-ZSM-5 suggests that the presence of PtZn significantly increases the selectivity to aromatics. However, when measuring the reaction progress using conversion of all reactive species, the selectivity to BTX is similar regardless of the presence of PtZn. While the selectivity to BTX is unaffected by the presence of PtZn, the other products’ selectivity is changed. At 723 K, the other stable products are methane, ethane, and propane. At 823 K, propane becomes a reactive species, and only methane and ethane are the other stable products.

Teaching Interests: I am pursuing a career in a primarily teaching capacity at the university level. I am interested in teaching any core chemical engineering course, as well as elective courses surrounding my previous work/study experience: the energy industry, oil & gas, and renewable energy. Leading laboratory-based classes is also of potential interest.

Research Interests: Currently, I am predominantly searching for positions in a teaching capacity. However, my research interests are focused on catalysis of hydrocarbon reactions. My Ph.D. research is focused on the effects of catalyst bifunctionality and reaction conditions on olefin aromatization product distribution. I also have research experience focused on catalysis for CO₂ capture using catalysts in monoethanolamine.