Preparation of Mo/HZSM-5/Bentonite Catalyst for Methane Aromatization in a Fluidized Bed Reactor

Methane aromatization is a promising technology for the transformation of natural gas to added-value products. The main objective of this work was to obtain a catalyst with suitable performance and good mechanical stability for methane aromatization reaction in fluidized bed reactors. The selected catalyst was Mo/H-ZSM5/bentonite mixture. Mo/ZSM-5 was chosen as the active material, since it provides good selectivity to aromatics but the particle size of the zeolite was too small for operation in a fluidized bed and a binder was needed. We prepared two series of catalysts with two different zeolites. We tested several heating velocities (1, 7 and 10 degrees C min(-1)) in the different stages of catalyst synthesis. Methane conversion and selectivity to aromatic products improved when using gentle thermal treatments, increasing 2% and 10%, respectively, for the best catalyst tested.