Synthesis of pyridine and methylpyridines over zeolite catalysts

Abstract

The synthesis of pyridines has been performed by a multi-component reaction of ethanol, formaldehyde, and ammonia in the presence of H-Beta, H-ZSM-12, and H-ZSM-5 zeolite catalysts. The maximum activity in the reaction is revealed by H-Beta zeolite; the conversion of ethanol induced by it reached 70% (400 °C, 2 h−1). The main products of the reaction in the presence of H-Beta and H-ZSM-5 zeolites are pyridine and picolines; on H-ZSM-12 picolines and lutidines. Thus, the results of the studying the effect of reaction parameters are showed that the yield of lutidine and heavy products increases with the increase of the temperature (from 200 to 400 °C) and the decrease of the weight hourly space velocity (from 10 to 2 h−1).