Dimethyl ether conversion to hydrocarbons on the closely interconnected FER@ZSM-5 nanostructures

Abstract

A superior catalyst activity and stability for dimethyl ether (DME) conversion to gasoline-range hydrocarbons (DTG) on a novel hierarchically-structured hybridized FER@ZSM-5 were verified in terms of the strong interactions of ZSM-5 on the plate-like FER nanostructures, which were prepared by alcohol additive with two organic structure-directing agent (OSDA). The highly active nanostructured FER@ZSM-5 with a propanol additive showed the closely interconnected and highly dispersed ZSM-5 aggregates on the larger plate-like FER surfaces, which were mainly responsible for the suppressed heavy coke depositions with the help of the closely interconnected ZSM-5 and FER interfaces with abundant acidic sites on 8-membered ring (8-MR) channels. The well-dispersed ZSM-5 nanoparticles on Brønsted acid sites of FER surfaces showed coke-resistant natures for DTG reaction due to the synergy effects of the strong acidic sites of the smaller ZSM-5 particles and larger Brønsted acid sites on the plate-like FER structures.