Influences of metal-modification and lamellar zeolite structure on ethylene to liquid aromatics conversion reaction using MFI catalysts.

• Catalytic performance of metal (Ga or Zn)-loaded mesoporous lamellar zeolites was evaluated. • Mesoporous lamellar structure is pivotal in determining metal dispersion in zeolite catalyst. • Metal loading changes the acidity of the zeolite catalyst and effect of Zn is more pronounced compared to Ga. • Higher liquid aromatics yield and selectivity for mono-benzene alkylated aromatics was observed while less coke was formed. • Both zeolite structure (mesoporosity) and type of metal dopant affect the catalytic performance of catalyst. The effects of meso-/microporous structure and metal-modification with gallium or zinc on catalytic performances of lamellar MFI zeolites in ethylene conversion reaction to liquid aromatics were investigated. TEM, XRD, Ar adsorption-desorption, UV-Visible spectroscopy, and H 2 -TPR measurements showed that the zeolite structure is a pivotal factor for controlling the type of metal dopant species forming on zeolite, their size, and their distribution. Adding metal dopants to zeolite structure decreased the Brønsted to Lewis (B/L) acid site ratio in the zeolites and improved their catalytic performance. As a result, metal-modified lamellar MFI zeolites showed higher liquid aromatics yield and selectivity for mono-benzene alkylated aromatics and lower coke formation rate compared to their microporous commercial MFI analogies. Zinc-loaded lamellar MFI had the most efficient catalytic performance among all studied catalysts. This phenomenon can be explained by higher accessibility of reactants to active sites and facilitated transport of products from lamellar structure of this zeolite and the low B/L acid site ratio of this catalyst provided by metal-modification, which is more suitable for ethylene aromatization. A bifunctional reaction mechanism has been proposed based on the analysis results of reaction product distributions that demonstrates the effect of both zeolite acid sites and metal sites in conversion of ethylene to liquid aromatics over MFI zeolite catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]