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A comparative study of catalytic performance of rare earth metal-modified beta zeolites for synthesis of cymene

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Abstract

A series of zeolite (LaB, CeB, and PrB) containing rare earth metals lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), and praseodymium (Pr) were used for transalkylation reaction. The modified beta zeolites were characterized by EDS, XRD, BET, FTIR, and TPD. The surface area and acidities of the zeolite samples modified with various rare earth metals are considerably different. The effect of various process parameters like metal loading (2–10 wt%), catalyst loading (1.44–8.63 w/w%), temperature (448–573 K), reactant ratio 1–15, and space time (3.2–9.29 kg h/kmol) on the conversion of reactant and selectivity of product was studied. Catalytic performance of praseodymium-modified beta zeolite shows highest cumene conversion (86.4 wt%) and cymene selectivity (65.7 wt%) compared to other zeolites. The maximum cumene conversion and cymene selectivity were obtained at 523 K, toluene-to-cumene ratio of 9:1, and a space time of 9.29 kg h/kmol. Kinetic modeling of the reaction was done to estimate the reaction kinetic constants and adsorption constants. The activation energy of the transalkylation was found to be 61.44 kJ/mol.

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Abbreviations

Ce:

Cerium

CeB:

Cerium-modified beta zeolite

DIPT:

Diisopropyltoluene

Hbeta:

Beta zeolite

k1, k2, k3 :

Kinetic constant, kgmol/kg h

Kc:

Adsorption constant for cumene, atm−1

K t :

Adsorption constant for tolene, atm−1

La:

Lanthanum

LaB:

Lanthanum-modified beta zeolite

P :

Total pressure, atm

\(p_{\text{A}}\) :

Partial pressure of aliphatics, atm

\(p_{\text{ben}}\) :

Partial pressure of benzene, atm

P cum :

Partial pressure of cumene, atm

\(p_{\text{cymene}}\) :

Partial pressure of cymene, atm

\(p_{\text{DIPT}}\) :

Partial pressure of DIPT, atm

Pr:

Praseodymium

PrB:

Praseodymium modified beta zeolite

\(p_{xyl}\) :

Partial pressure of xylene, atm

P t :

Partial pressure of toluene, atm

\(- r_{\text{cum}}\) :

Experimental rate of cumene conversion

\(X_{\text{A}}\) :

Moles of aliphatics produced, kgmol

\(X_{\text{ben}}\) :

Moles of benzene produced, kgmol

X cum :

Moles of cumene reacted, kgmol

\(X_{\text{cymene}}\) :

Moles of cymene produced, kgmol

\(X_{\text{DIPT}}\) :

Moles of DIPT produced, kgmol

X expt :

Experimental fractional conversion

\(X_{\text{xyl}}\) :

Moles of xylene produced, kgmol

X pred :

Predicted fractional conversion

X t :

Moles of toluene reacted, kgmol

τ :

Space–time, kg h/kgmol

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Thapar University, Patiala, 147004, India

    Ruchika Thakur

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Thapar University, Patiala, Punjab, 147004, India

    Raj K. Gupta & Sanghamitra Barman

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  1. Ruchika Thakur
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  2. Raj K. Gupta
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Correspondence to Raj K. Gupta.

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Thakur, R., Gupta, R.K. & Barman, S. A comparative study of catalytic performance of rare earth metal-modified beta zeolites for synthesis of cymene. Chem. Pap. 71, 137–148 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11696-016-0071-x

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