Non-oxidative conversion of methane into various petrochemical grades over tunable tri-metallic Fe-W-Mo/HZSM-5 catalyst systems

Most mono-metallic catalysts applied in non-oxidative conversion of methane exhibit low catalyst activity and limited selectivity towards useful petrochemicals. In this study, a series of thermally stable and tunable 5.4 wt% metal/support Fe-W-Mo/HZSM-5 catalyst systems were synthesized, characterized, and applied in non-oxidative conversion of methane in a custom-made stainless-steel reactor at various process conditions. Analysis of products from the reactor was done using Shimadzu 2014 gas chromatograph. Varying the amount of Fe, W, and Mo on HZSM-5 greatly influenced catalyst activity in terms of methane conversion and product distribution. When the quantities of Fe and W were increased to 2.25 wt% each and the quantity of molybdenum reduced to 0.9 wt% in the overall 5.4 wt% metal/ HZSM-5 catalyst, the resultant catalyst system became most active in methane conversion (17.4%) at 800 °C. Reducing the quantity of Fe and W each to 1.35 wt% and increasing Mo to 2.7 wt% in the overall 5.4 wt% catalyst, the resultant catalyst system became less selective towards C2 hydrocarbons and coke, but highly selective towards xylene and benzene. Therefore, this study demonstrates that varying metal loading presents an opportunity to tune the 5.4 wt% binary Fe, W, and Mo on HZSM-5 to achieve desired methane conversion and product distribution.