Butene Catalytic Cracking to Propene and Ethene over Potassium Modified ZSM-5 Catalysts

Catalytic cracking of butene over potassium modified ZSM-5 catalysts was carried out in a fixed-bed microreactor. By increasing the K loading on the ZSM-5, butene conversion and ethene selectivity decreased almost linearly, while propene selectivity increased first, then passed through a maximum (about 50% selectivity) with the addition of ca. 0.7–1.0% K, and then decreased slowly with further increasing of the K loading. The reaction conditions were 620 °C, WHSV 3.5 h−1, 0.1 MPa 1-butene partial pressure and 1 h of time on stream. Both by potassium modification of the ZSM-5 zeolite and by N2 addition in the butene feed could enhance the selectivity towards propene effectively, but the catalyst stability did not show any improvement. On the other hand, addition of water to the butene feed could not only increase the butene conversion, but also improve the stability of the 0.7%K/ZSM-5 catalyst due to the effective removal of the coke formed, as demonstrated by the TPO spectra. XRD results indicated that the ZSM-5 structure of the 0.07% K/ZSM-5 catalyst was not destroyed even under this serious condition of adding water at 620 °C.