Experimental investigation of benzene alkylation in benzene cut by propylene over ZSM-5 zeolite as catalyst

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Abstract

Alkylation of benzene content in benzene cut produced by Iranian petrochemical company over ZSM-5 zeolite as catalyst was investigated in three phase reactor. In this work, the effects of operating temperatures (140, 170 and 200°C) and benzene/propylene (B/P) molar ratio (over the range of 1 to 7) were studied on the product distribution. Based on the obtained experimental data, it is concluded that an increase in B/P molar ratio from B/P=1 to B/P=7, enhances the selectivity of cumene as major product from 71.042% to 81.369%. However the conversion of benzene was decreased with increasing B/P molar ratio. Also the experimental results demonstrated that by enhancement in the temperature, selectivity of cumene was decreased from 79.579% to 67.965% and the benzene conversion was increased. The results showed that ZSM-5 has a suitable selectivity for cumene production in alkylation of benzene by propylene in presence of ZSM-5 zeolite as catalyst.

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