The direct conversion of ethane to higher-valued petrochemical feedstock such as benzene, toluene and xylenes (BTX) has become more economically attractive because of the recent shale gas revolution. The selectivity towards BTX and catalyst deactivation represent significant technical challenges in this process. In this work, we synthesized a series of bi-functional Pt on acidic ZSM-5 catalysts to investigate the effect of platinum nanoparticle distribution and location on selectivity and deactivation. The best catalyst was Pt encapsulated in desilicated ZSM-5 that remained stable after 15 hours of reaction resulting in 60% higher conversion and 75% higher BTX selectivity than Pt supported on conventional acidic ZSM-5 zeolite.

由于最近的页岩气革命，乙烷直接转化为高价值的石油化工原料，例如苯，甲苯和二甲苯（BTX），在经济上更具吸引力。对BTX的选择性和催化剂失活是该过程中的重大技术挑战。在这项工作中，我们在酸性ZSM-5催化剂上合成了一系列双功能Pt，以研究铂纳米粒子分布和位置对选择性和失活的影响。最好的催化剂是将Pt封装在脱硅的ZSM-5中，反应15小时后仍保持稳定，与传统的酸性ZSM-5沸石上负载的Pt相比，转化率高60％，BTX选择性高75％。