Nanostructural evolution by applying various fuels in combustion design of CuZnAl mixed-oxides over HZSM-5 used in one-step production of CH3–O–CH3

Abstract

The influence of different fuels (urea, ethylene glycol and citric acid) in combustion-based design of nano-structured CuO–ZnO–Al2O3/HZSM-5 catalyst was investigated. The catalytic performance were evaluated in a single step production of dimethyl ether form syngas. The X-ray diffraction, Field emission scanning electron microscopy, Transmission electron microscopy, Energy-dispersive x-ray, Temperature Programmed Reduction-H2, N2 Adsorption and Desorption isotherms and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy techniques were used to characterize physico-chemical properties of prepared nanocatalysts. The X-ray diffraction results clarified that application of citric acid increased relative crystallinity of Cu and Zn oxides existed in catalyst structure. The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy results demonstrated that the zeolite structure was not destroyed after CuO–ZnO–Al2O3/HZSM-5 introduction. The Field emission scanning electron microscopy and Transmission electron microscopy images illustrated that the nanocatalyst synthesized with citric acid has the highest porosity and less population of particle agglomerations. The highest amount of surface area was obtained when citric acid was used as fuel. According to Temperature Programmed Reduction-H2 profiles, the reducibility of nanocatalyst synthesized with citric acid is higher than other samples. The activity of the fabricated nanocatalysts for syngas to Dimethyl ether process were tested at temperature and pressure range of 225–300 °C and 10–40 bar, respectively. Using citric acid as fuel led to achieve greater amount carbon monoxide conversion and Dimethyl ether yield. Furthermore, stability test represented that the activity of this nanocatalyst remained quite stable during 1060 min.