Theta-1 zeolite catalyst for increasing the yield of propene when cracking olefins and its potential integration with an olefin metathesis unit

Abstract

There is a need for on-purpose propene production technologies beyond energy-intensive steam cracking. Hexene is a compound with limited value that can be found in several streams in the refinery and can readily crack on zeolites at lower temperatures and shorter contact times than those used for cracking alkanes. Cracking over ZSM-5 zeolite yields high selectivity to light olefins. These results are improved by Theta-1 zeolite, which can yield a remarkable propene molar selectivity of 180% (90 wt%) at 90% conversion, close to the maximum thermodynamic yield. Moreover, crystal engineering allowed its TOF to increase by more than 50%. Based on these results we also identified some prospective applications of Theta-1 zeolite as a catalyst for an integrated process directed to maximize propene.