SAPO-34 facilitates the formation of benzene, toluene and xylenes in direct syngas conversion over MnCrO x -SAPO-34-ZSM-5

Direct conversion of syngas to aromatics over metal oxide and zeolite (OXZEO) composite catalysts is promising. However, the selectivity of more valuable products such as benzene, toluene and xylenes (BTX) is limited due to undesired secondary methylation of BTX. Herein, we report that the introduction of SAPO-34 into MnCrO x -ZSM-5 catalyst enhances significantly the formation of BTX without sacrificing the aromatics selectivity. Under optimized conditions, the fraction of BTX in aromatics reaches 64.7% versus 28.9% over the catalyst without SAPO-34. A number of model reaction tests and characterizations reveal that SAPO-34 consumes partially the intermediates such as ketene, by converting them to light olefins. Thus, the methylation of BTX by ketene to heavy aromatics is inhibited over the external acid sites of ZSM-5, leading to an enhanced BTX selectivity in the products. This hybrid catalyst provides an efficient method for highly selective synthesis of BTX from syngas.