Through
gasification and methanol synthesis, biomass can produce
methanol and then produce light olefins through the methanol-to-hydrocarbon
(MTH) process. To make this new biomass based production route profitable,
the efficiency of the MTH process is important. Catalyst deactivation
is the main reason for the decline of conversion and selectivity.
NMR was applied to detect the relaxation and diffusion of liquid molecules
in a series of coked ZSM-5, investigating the effect of coke on molecular
transport properties. n-Heptane was chosen as a probe
molecule in describing pore network connectivity, whereas methanol
was used for relaxation measurements. Though there were only minor
differences of pore connectivity among the samples, the longitudinal
relaxation time showed an almost linear relationship with coke contents,
suggesting that the interaction between reactants and catalyst surface
influences the catalyst performance within low coke contents. PFG-NMR
and NMR relaxation, as fast and straightforward measurements, could
simulate catalyst behaviors during the reaction process.