Tailoring the catalytic properties of alkylation using Cu- and Fe-containing mesoporous MEL zeolites

Abstract

The alkylation of aromatics is an important reaction for producing valuable petrochemicals and fine chemicals. A dual metal species encapsulated MEL zeolite with an elegant hierarchical architecture was fabricated to tailor the catalytic properties of liquid alkylation between mesitylene and benzyl alcohol. The redox properties of zeolites played a crucial role in determining the activity and selectivity, and the activity of benzyl alcohol and the selectivity of 2-benzyl-1,3,5-trimethylbenzene could be simultaneously maximized by balancing the redox properties of zeolites. The calculated Thiele modulus and effectiveness factor indicated that the resultant mesoporous MEL zeolites achieved a high catalyst utilization degree with negligible diffusion constraints. A novel reaction coordination and diffusion intensification coupling technology was developed by tuning the redox properties of zeolites and mitigating the diffusion limitation, which could accurately modulate the catalytic performance of the catalysts and improve the utilization efficiency of zeolites in the alkylation of aromatics.