A novel microwave-assisted methanol-to-hydrocarbons process with a structured ZSM-5/SiC foam catalyst: Proof-of-concept and environmental impacts

Xiaoxia Ou; Marco Tomatis; Yongyong Lan; Yilai Jiao; Yipei Chen; Zheng Guo; Xin Gao; Tao Wu; Chunfei Wu; Kaiqi Shi; Adisa Azapagic; Xiaolei Fan

doi:10.1016/j.ces.2022.117669

A novel microwave-assisted methanol-to-hydrocarbons process with a structured ZSM-5/SiC foam catalyst: Proof-of-concept and environmental impacts

Xiaoxia Ou^*, Marco Tomatis, Yongyong Lan, Yilai Jiao, Yipei Chen, Zheng Guo, Xin Gao, Tao Wu, Chunfei Wu, Kaiqi Shi, Adisa Azapagic, Xiaolei Fan

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

This study presents a novel combination of microwave irradiation and structured zeolite/SiC foam catalyst to improve the methanol-to-hydrocarbons (MTH) process as well as its environmental sustainability. Accordingly, ZSM-5/SiC foam was studied under microwave irradiation at various reaction temperatures (400–550 °C) and space velocities (8 and 12 h⁻¹) and compared to conventional ZSM-5 pellets. ZSM-5/SiC foam promoted higher selectivity towards C1−C5 hydrocarbons (∼95%) and particularly propylene (∼40% at 400 °C and 8 h⁻¹) compared to ZSM-5 pellets (∼40% and 6–9%, respectively) due to the enhanced mass and heat transfers. The microwave-assisted MTH process with both the structured catalyst and pellets was also assessed on the environmental sustainability via life cycle assessment in comparison with the conventionally-heat process with the structured catalyst. The results showed that the microwave-based process with the structured catalyst could reduce the environmental impacts of propylene production by 22–30% compared to the conventionally-heated process with the same catalyst.

Original language	English
Article number	117669
Journal	Chemical Engineering Science
Volume	255
Early online date	27 Apr 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2022.117669
Publication status	Published - 29 Jun 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge Yanan Guan (Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences) for performing NH3-TPD characterisation and Run Zou (Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Manchester) for performing SEM-EDX characterisation. This project has received funding from European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 872102. X.F. and C.W. acknowledge the financial support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for the research in structured foam catalysts (EP/R000670/1). X.F. and K.S. thank the financial support from The Royal Society for their research collaboration via the Royal Society International Exchanges award (IE161344). K.S. and T.W. thanks the Ningbo Municipal Science and Technology Programme (2018B10023 and 2017A610233) and the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Science and Technology (via the Provincial Key Laboratory programme, 2020E10018) for the financial support of their research.

Funding Information:
This project has received funding from European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 872102. X.F. and C.W. acknowledge the financial support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for the research in structured foam catalysts (EP/R000670/1). X.F. and K.S. thank the financial support from The Royal Society for their research collaboration via the Royal Society International Exchanges award (IE161344). K.S. and T.W. thanks the Ningbo Municipal Science and Technology Programme (2018B10023 and 2017A610233) and the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Science and Technology (via the Provincial Key Laboratory programme, 2020E10018) for the financial support of their research.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors

Keywords

Life cycle assessment (LCA)
Methanol-to-hydrocarbons (MTH)
Microwave
SiC foam
Structured catalyst

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Chemistry
General Chemical Engineering
Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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A novel microwave-assisted methanol-to-hydrocarbons process with a structured ZSM-5/SiC foam catalyst: Proof-of-concept and environmental impacts
Copyright 2022 the authors. This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the author and source are cited.
Final published version, 2.44 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "A novel microwave-assisted methanol-to-hydrocarbons process with a structured ZSM-5/SiC foam catalyst: Proof-of-concept and environmental impacts",

abstract = "This study presents a novel combination of microwave irradiation and structured zeolite/SiC foam catalyst to improve the methanol-to-hydrocarbons (MTH) process as well as its environmental sustainability. Accordingly, ZSM-5/SiC foam was studied under microwave irradiation at various reaction temperatures (400–550 °C) and space velocities (8 and 12 h−1) and compared to conventional ZSM-5 pellets. ZSM-5/SiC foam promoted higher selectivity towards C1−C5 hydrocarbons (∼95%) and particularly propylene (∼40% at 400 °C and 8 h−1) compared to ZSM-5 pellets (∼40% and 6–9%, respectively) due to the enhanced mass and heat transfers. The microwave-assisted MTH process with both the structured catalyst and pellets was also assessed on the environmental sustainability via life cycle assessment in comparison with the conventionally-heat process with the structured catalyst. The results showed that the microwave-based process with the structured catalyst could reduce the environmental impacts of propylene production by 22–30% compared to the conventionally-heated process with the same catalyst.",

keywords = "Life cycle assessment (LCA), Methanol-to-hydrocarbons (MTH), Microwave, SiC foam, Structured catalyst",

author = "Xiaoxia Ou and Marco Tomatis and Yongyong Lan and Yilai Jiao and Yipei Chen and Zheng Guo and Xin Gao and Tao Wu and Chunfei Wu and Kaiqi Shi and Adisa Azapagic and Xiaolei Fan",

note = "Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge Yanan Guan (Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences) for performing NH3-TPD characterisation and Run Zou (Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Manchester) for performing SEM-EDX characterisation. This project has received funding from European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 872102. X.F. and C.W. acknowledge the financial support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for the research in structured foam catalysts (EP/R000670/1). X.F. and K.S. thank the financial support from The Royal Society for their research collaboration via the Royal Society International Exchanges award (IE161344). K.S. and T.W. thanks the Ningbo Municipal Science and Technology Programme (2018B10023 and 2017A610233) and the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Science and Technology (via the Provincial Key Laboratory programme, 2020E10018) for the financial support of their research. Funding Information: This project has received funding from European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 872102. X.F. and C.W. acknowledge the financial support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for the research in structured foam catalysts (EP/R000670/1). X.F. and K.S. thank the financial support from The Royal Society for their research collaboration via the Royal Society International Exchanges award (IE161344). K.S. and T.W. thanks the Ningbo Municipal Science and Technology Programme (2018B10023 and 2017A610233) and the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Science and Technology (via the Provincial Key Laboratory programme, 2020E10018) for the financial support of their research. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Authors",

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doi = "10.1016/j.ces.2022.117669",

language = "English",

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journal = "Chemical Engineering Science",

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T1 - A novel microwave-assisted methanol-to-hydrocarbons process with a structured ZSM-5/SiC foam catalyst: Proof-of-concept and environmental impacts

AU - Ou, Xiaoxia

AU - Tomatis, Marco

AU - Lan, Yongyong

AU - Jiao, Yilai

AU - Chen, Yipei

AU - Guo, Zheng

AU - Gao, Xin

AU - Wu, Tao

AU - Wu, Chunfei

AU - Shi, Kaiqi

AU - Azapagic, Adisa

AU - Fan, Xiaolei

N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge Yanan Guan (Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences) for performing NH3-TPD characterisation and Run Zou (Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Manchester) for performing SEM-EDX characterisation. This project has received funding from European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 872102. X.F. and C.W. acknowledge the financial support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for the research in structured foam catalysts (EP/R000670/1). X.F. and K.S. thank the financial support from The Royal Society for their research collaboration via the Royal Society International Exchanges award (IE161344). K.S. and T.W. thanks the Ningbo Municipal Science and Technology Programme (2018B10023 and 2017A610233) and the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Science and Technology (via the Provincial Key Laboratory programme, 2020E10018) for the financial support of their research. Funding Information: This project has received funding from European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 872102. X.F. and C.W. acknowledge the financial support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for the research in structured foam catalysts (EP/R000670/1). X.F. and K.S. thank the financial support from The Royal Society for their research collaboration via the Royal Society International Exchanges award (IE161344). K.S. and T.W. thanks the Ningbo Municipal Science and Technology Programme (2018B10023 and 2017A610233) and the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Science and Technology (via the Provincial Key Laboratory programme, 2020E10018) for the financial support of their research. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors

PY - 2022/6/29

Y1 - 2022/6/29

N2 - This study presents a novel combination of microwave irradiation and structured zeolite/SiC foam catalyst to improve the methanol-to-hydrocarbons (MTH) process as well as its environmental sustainability. Accordingly, ZSM-5/SiC foam was studied under microwave irradiation at various reaction temperatures (400–550 °C) and space velocities (8 and 12 h−1) and compared to conventional ZSM-5 pellets. ZSM-5/SiC foam promoted higher selectivity towards C1−C5 hydrocarbons (∼95%) and particularly propylene (∼40% at 400 °C and 8 h−1) compared to ZSM-5 pellets (∼40% and 6–9%, respectively) due to the enhanced mass and heat transfers. The microwave-assisted MTH process with both the structured catalyst and pellets was also assessed on the environmental sustainability via life cycle assessment in comparison with the conventionally-heat process with the structured catalyst. The results showed that the microwave-based process with the structured catalyst could reduce the environmental impacts of propylene production by 22–30% compared to the conventionally-heated process with the same catalyst.

AB - This study presents a novel combination of microwave irradiation and structured zeolite/SiC foam catalyst to improve the methanol-to-hydrocarbons (MTH) process as well as its environmental sustainability. Accordingly, ZSM-5/SiC foam was studied under microwave irradiation at various reaction temperatures (400–550 °C) and space velocities (8 and 12 h−1) and compared to conventional ZSM-5 pellets. ZSM-5/SiC foam promoted higher selectivity towards C1−C5 hydrocarbons (∼95%) and particularly propylene (∼40% at 400 °C and 8 h−1) compared to ZSM-5 pellets (∼40% and 6–9%, respectively) due to the enhanced mass and heat transfers. The microwave-assisted MTH process with both the structured catalyst and pellets was also assessed on the environmental sustainability via life cycle assessment in comparison with the conventionally-heat process with the structured catalyst. The results showed that the microwave-based process with the structured catalyst could reduce the environmental impacts of propylene production by 22–30% compared to the conventionally-heated process with the same catalyst.

KW - Life cycle assessment (LCA)

KW - Methanol-to-hydrocarbons (MTH)

KW - Microwave

KW - SiC foam

KW - Structured catalyst

U2 - 10.1016/j.ces.2022.117669

DO - 10.1016/j.ces.2022.117669

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85129118612

SN - 0009-2509

VL - 255

JO - Chemical Engineering Science

JF - Chemical Engineering Science

M1 - 117669

ER -

A novel microwave-assisted methanol-to-hydrocarbons process with a structured ZSM-5/SiC foam catalyst: Proof-of-concept and environmental impacts

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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