Facile synthesis of hierarchical macro/microporous ZSM-5 zeolite with high catalytic stability in methanol to olefins

Hierarchical macro/microporous ZSM-5 zeolite (defined as ZSM-5(MM)) was successfully synthesized by using silica spheres as silica source. The effects of template, sodium ions, hydroxyl ions, aluminum and water contents as well as crystallization temperature on the morphology and pore structure of ZSM-5 were investigated in detail. The formation mechanism was studied by XRD, SEM, N2 sorption, ICP-AES, XPS, 27Al MAS NMR and 29Si MAS NMR, confirming that the silica spheres during synthesis process were served as not only silica nutrients to accelerate the generation of crystal nucleus, but also morphology guiding agents that induce the formation of macro/microporous structure followed by quasi solid hydrogel transformation mechanism. The prepared ZSM-5(MM) zeolite exhibited much longer catalytic lifetime and higher light olefins selectivity in the methanol to olefins (MTO) than those of the conventional microporous sample. This is because the hierarchical macro/microporous structure can effectively improve the diffusion of feedstocks and products, suppressing the rapid coke deposition. Meanwhile, the contribution of alkene cycle in MTO is enhanced and it produces more propene and butene.