Si-MCM41 Supported Sulfated Zirconia and Nafion for Ether Production

Abstract

Various unsupported and supported sulfated zirconia and Nafion catalysts were prepared and investigated for etherification of C6 olefins with methanol. Supported sulfated zirconia and Nafion generally show higher activity than unsupported sulfated zirconia and Nafion. The nature of the support and catalyst preparation techniques were found to affect the catalytic activity. Mesoporous Si-MCM41 with high surface area was the best support for the acid catalysts. Si-MCM41 supported sulfated zirconia and Nafion catalysts produced higher ether yields than other supports and in some cases exhibited a better catalytic activity than the reference resin catalyst, Amberlyst 15. The wt % loading of acidic component and reaction temperature were important factors influencing the catalytic behavior.

Cooperative Research in C1 Chemistry

“…pentene (2,4,4TM1P), and 2,4,4-trimethyl-2-pentene (2,4,4TM2P), with methanol using 10 weight percent dry Amberlyst produced a significant amount of higher ethers, such as 2 -methoxy-2,3-dimethylbutane (2MO2,3DMB) and 2 -methoxy-2,4,4-trimethylpentane (2MO2,4,4TMP) along with 2 -hydroxy-2,3-dimethylbutane. The detectable amount of alcohol product produced in the course of etherification indicates that a small amount of water was present in the reaction mixture.…”

“…Therefore, this progress report will consist of a summary of these final activities on our etherification project, prior to redirection. Detailed results are available in a series of papers that have been submitted for publication (1)(2)(3)(4)(5) .…”

Methyl Tertiary Hexyl Ether and Methyl Tertiary Octyl Ether as Gasoline Oxygenates: Assessing Risks from Atmospheric Dispersion and Deposition

“…Because of the potential importance of higher ethers as high production volume (HPV) fuel blend components, a number of studies of the preparation of MtHxE and MtOcE have appeared recently in the literature. 8,10,11,[13][14][15] As was the case with MtBE, the introduction of these ethers into fuel supplies also guarantees their introduction into the environment. It is, therefore, of interest to assess the potential risk that these higher ethers may pose to the environment.…”

Mesoporous Solid Acid Catalysts

“…Notably, they generally have low BET surface areas (\50 m 2 /g) [2], and preparation of resin-silica nanocomposite is good way to increase BET surface area and accessibility for acidic sites of resins [163][164][165][166][167][168][169][170]. For examples, Wang et al reported the incorporation of Nafion to ordered mesoporous silica of MCM-41 by sol-gel technique [165]; Corma and coworkers reported the synthesis of hybrid organic-inorganic mesoporous materials with terminal perfluorinated sulfonic groups [167,168]. These resin modified mesoporous solid acids showed remarkable catalytic activities in a series of esterification [163][164][165][166][167][168][169].…”

“…For examples, Wang et al reported the incorporation of Nafion to ordered mesoporous silica of MCM-41 by sol-gel technique [165]; Corma and coworkers reported the synthesis of hybrid organic-inorganic mesoporous materials with terminal perfluorinated sulfonic groups [167,168]. These resin modified mesoporous solid acids showed remarkable catalytic activities in a series of esterification [163][164][165][166][167][168][169].…”