Catalytic conversion of ethanol to produce petrochemical products

Abstract

In this work, ethanol dehydration over Fe2O3-CeO2 nanocomposites with different Fe2O3 wt. % loadings was investigated. For comparison, the pure Fe2O3 and CeO2 were also prepared. The different nanocomposite samples were prepared via a novel modified auto combustion technique (ACT) and co-precipitation method (CPM). Novel route to modify the auto-combustion method at temperatures lower than those reported previously were used. Pure Fe2O3 and CeO2 were prepared by conventional chemical precipitation method. The as-prepared catalysts were characterized by the aid of XRD, HRTEM, BET, DSC/TGA, NH3-TPD and XRF techniques. The results revealed that Fe2O3 and CeO2 produce a solid solution up to 15% and 30% Fe2O3 for the samples prepared by the co-precipitation and Auto-combustion methods. In the samples of higher Fe2O3 content, segregation of Fe2O3 on the surface was evidenced. Catalytic conversion of ethanol yielded mainly dehydration products with a distinguished activity toward ethylene. The highest ethanol conversion and maximized ethylene selectivity was achieved on the Fe15Ce85 and Fe30Ce70 catalysts produced by the CPM and ACT respectively. Those catalysts selectivity towards ethylene achieved 94% and 98% in order. While ethylene yield increased over all catalysts by increasing the reaction temperature, production of diethyl ether and acetaldehyde were favored at low temperatures with a minor yield. The obtained data revealed that the Fe2O3-CeO2 nanocomposite were an attractive ethanol dehydration catalysts. Keywords: Iron oxide nanoparticles, ceria nanoparticles, nanocomposites,sol-gel autocombustion synthesis, ethanol conversion