Dual-engine-driven realizing high-yield synthesis of Para-Xylene directly from CO2-containing syngas
Xuemei Wu, Chengwei Wang, Shengying Zhao, Yang Wang, Tao Zhang, Jie Yao, Weizhe Gao, Baizhang Zhang, Taiki Arakawa, Yingluo He, Fei Chen, Minghui Tan, Guohui Yang, Noritatsu Tsubaki
Abstract
The direct synthesis of light aromatics, especially para-xylene (p-X), from syngas/CO2 is drawing strong interest, but improving the space-time yield (STY) of p-X is a significant challenge. Here, a dynamic “dual-engine-driven” (DED) catalytic system is designed by combining two partners of ZnCr and FeMn (named “dual-engine”) with Z5@SiO2 capsule zeolite. The DED catalyst of 1.0%FeMn&[ZnCr&Z5@SiO2] shows an extremely higher p-X STY of 36.1 gp-x·kgcat-1·h-1, about eight times higher than that of [ZnCr&Z5]. DED manipulates ZnCr engine for methanol formation and drives FeMn engine for light olefins generation together, and then the formed methanol and light olefins are coordinately converted in situ into p-X-rich aromatics over Z5@SiO2. The DED model boosts the driving force for syngas/CO2 conversion, simultaneously concerting the cooperation of “dual-engine” for p-X generation, resulting in extremely high STY of p-X. This study achieves non-petroleum p-X production at industrial-relevant level and advances knowledge in designing innovative heterogeneous catalysts. The direct synthesis of light aromatics, particularly para-xylene (p-X), from syngas/CO2 is gaining considerable attention, though enhancing the space-time yield (STY) of p-X remains a significant challenge. Here, the authors develop a dynamic ‘dual-engine-driven’ catalytic system that achieves a remarkably higher p-X STY by integrating ZnCr and FeMn with Z5@SiO2 capsule zeolite.