New Insights into Formation of Molecular Sieve SAPO-34 for MTO Reactions

Abstract

Small-pore molecular sieve SAPO-34 is well-known as the most promising and effective catalyst for the conversion of methanol to olefins (MTO). In this paper, we have investigated the formation of SAPO-34 under different dry gel conversion (DGC) conditions using two types of synthesis gels with one containing hydrofluoric acid (HF) and the other not. Particular attention was paid to the Si incorporation and distribution in final SAPO-34 products. The results indicate that under DGC (with HF) conditions SAPO-34 is formed from the transformation of a highly crystalline, layered prephase that is held by covalent bonds. The final SAPO-34 product is a mixture of triclinic and trigonal phases containing six framework Si species. The Si distribution in triclinic and trigonal SAPO-34 is drastically different. The majority of Si species are located in the aluminosilicate domains in trigonal phase. Conversely, under DGC (without HF) conditions, the crystallization of SAPO-34 involves three transformational stages. I...