Conversion of ethanol-water mixture over industrial HZSM-5 catalyst.

This work is devoted to investigating the effects of ethanol space velocity and the composition of ethanol-water mixture on their conversion to hydrocarbons over the industrial 3%Zn/27%Al2O3/Fe-ZKE-G50 (Si/Fe = 550) catalyst. It was shown that at 350ºC, the relationship between ethanol space velocity and liquid hydrocarbons yield passes through a maximum at around 2h-1. Increasing ethanol space velocity to 5-10h-1 leads to increase in ethylene formation and a loss in selectivity for other hydrocarbons. Increasing the amount of water, drastically reduces the yield of liquid hydrocarbons. A high selectivity for C3-C4 hydrocarbons can be obtained using a mixture with ethanol to water ratio of 2:1. Further increase in water content leads to a decrease in the ethylene oligomerisation rate, consequently resulting in an increase in ethylene formation. Water addition to ethanol plays an important role in the overall process selectivity without altering the catalyst and technological equipment