Transformation of Acetone and Isopropanol to Hydrocarbons using HZSM-5 Catalyst

This research describes the production of hydrocarbons from acetone and isopropanol produced by the MixAlco process. The MixAlco process has two types of products: acetone and isopropanol. The effect of the temperature, weight hourly space velocity (WHSV), type of catalyst, feed composition, and pressure are studied.
For the isopropanol reaction, the following conditions were used: HZSM-5 (280), 1 atm, 300?410?C, and 0.5?11.5 h?1, respectively. The temperature and WHSV affect the average carbon number of the reaction products. A product similar to commercial gasoline was obtained at T = 320 ?C and WHSV= 1.3 to 2.7 h?1. Also, at these conditions, the amount of light hydrocarbons (C1?C4) is low.
For the acetone reaction, the following conditions were used: HZSM-5 with silica alumina ratio (Si/Al) 80 and 280 mol silica/mol alumina, 1?7.8 atm, 305?415?C, 1.3?11.8 h?1, and hydrogen acetone ratio 0?1 mol H2 /mol acetone. The conversion on HZSM-5 (80) was higher than HZSM-5 (280); however, for HZM?5 (80) the production of light hydrocarbons (C1?C4) was more abundant than (280), and it formed less coke. For acetone, the effect of high pressure (P = 7.8 atm) was evaluated. At high pressure, the conversion was lower than at atmospheric pressure. HZSM-5 (280) rapidly deactivated, and the amount of light hydrocarbons (C1?C4) increased.
For acetone, co-feeding hydrogen inhibited coke formation and decreased the amount of light hydrocarbons (C1?C4).