Effect of Dimethyl Ether Co-feed on Catalytic Performance of Methane Dehydroaromatization over Mo/HZ

The effect of dimethyl ether (DME) co-feed on the catalytic performance of methane dehy droaromatization (MDA) over 6Mo/HZSM-5 catalyst was investigated as a function of DME concentration under reaction conditions of T＝1023 K, p＝101 kPa and SV＝1500 ml/(g·h). A high benzene yield was obtained and the stability of the catalyst was improved by adding 1.5%DME to the CH4 feed. The C6H6 yield was as high as ca. 10% even after reaction for 6 h. The stability of the catalyst was further improved when DME concentration in the co-feed gas was increased to an appropriate value.TGA and TPO results of the used 6Mo/HZSM-5 catalyst showed that the amount of coke on the used catalyst was reduced and the chemical nature of the coke was changed. When 1.5%DME was added to the CH4 feed, the coke formed on the catalyst could be burned off more easily than that when only CH4 was used as reactant.It is supposed that the oxygen in DME may play a role in preventing the coke burnt off at lower temperature from transforming into the coke burnt off at higher temperature, which results in the improvement of the stability of the catalyst.