Influence of process parameters on single bed Ni/(Al)MCM-41 for the production of propene from ethene feedstock

Abstract

A Ni aluminized mesoporous MCM-41 catalyst was prepared and applied for the direct conversion of ethene to propene. Suitable ethene conversion and good selectivity for the desired molecule propene were achieved. The catalyst placed in a packed tubular reactor was stable for more than 2000 h with time on stream. A reaction network analysis was performed evaluating the product spectrum observed covering a large range of operating conditions. Thereby, temperature and feed concentration can be considered as significant influence parameters on the product distribution. Based on the product spectra, a modified reaction network including a catalytic cycle is suggested, which adds cracking of long-chain olefins to the conventionally considered dimerization/oligomerization and isomerization steps. Following previous publications, the catalyst presented strong deactivation behavior. It was observed that the regeneration