METHANOL TO LIGHT OLEFINS USING SAPO-34 AS CATALYST

Abstract

Light olefins, namely ethylene and propylene, are the building blocks of the petrochemical industry and are produced in large quantities. Ethylene with carbon-carbon double bonds is colorless flammable gas with a sweet odor that finds use as an intermediate product for manufacturing polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), ethylene oxide, and polystyrene, etc. Propylene has double bond with three carbons is a colorless gas with a pungent smell that finds a vast range of applications for manufacturing polypropylene, acrylonitrile, propylene oxide, isopropyl alcohol, cumene, and acrylic acid, which are further used to produce a variety of chemicals. The commercial routes for light olefins production are well-established processes like paraffin dehydrogenation, fluid catalytic cracking, coal gasification via Fischer–Tropsch chemistry, and steam cracking of ethane and naphtha. Methods like thermal cracking of naphtha and fluid catalytic cracking are energy-intensive, and carbon dioxide emissions have tremendous environmental implications. Efforts have been directed to search for alternative raw materials for producing light olefins. Methanol is an important chemical that can be used as fuel and for the synthesis of chemicals like acetic acid and Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE). However, methanol can be obtained from non-petroleum routes such as from natural gas and coal. Nevertheless, methanol is the future of sustainable energy. Nowadays, it is also obtained via biochemical routes from municipal solid waste, agricultural waste, forestry residues, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen produced from renewable electricity. The thesis concerns with the production of light olefins (ethylene and propylene) from methanol. To be specific, it is planned to study the steam reforming of methanol to form ethylene and propylene. This process is also referred to as the MTO process/reaction. As it is a catalytic reaction, therefore, this study consists of two parts: Catalyst development and its characterization, and its performance evaluation by conducting MTO reaction in a laboratory fixed bed reactor.