Application of activated carbon derived from bacterial cellulose for mesoporous HZSM-5 catalyst synthesis and performances of catalyst in bioethanol dehydration

Abstract

Bacterial cellulose-derived activated carbon (BC-AC) was used as a hard template for mesoporous HZSM-5 zeolite synthesis. HZSM-5 zeolites were then applied as a catalyst for bioethanol dehydration. HZSM-5 zeolite catalyst obtained at the ratio of BC-AC to SiO2 of 0.4 (HZSM-5-0.4) exhibited very high catalytic performances and stability, in which the bioethanol conversion at 95.5–100%, with ethylene selectivity of 97.2–100% was obtained at the reaction temperature of 250–400 °C; whereas, the bioethanol conversion at 52.1%, with diethyl ether selectivity of 97.8% was obtained at 200 °C. The highly ordered mesoporous structure of HZSM-5-0.4 catalysts was found to promote mass transfer diffusion, resulting in the improved conversion and selectivity as well as the reduction of coke deposits. Consequently, BC-AC has an excellent potential to be used as a hard template for highly efficient and stable mesoporous HZSM-5 zeolite catalyst synthesis.