Mechanisms of Chain Carrier Propagation and Termination in Methanol-to-Olefins Catalysis on Small Pore Zeotypes and Zeolites

Abstract

The diminishing supply of fossil fuels and the deleterious environmental consequences engendered by their consumption demand innovation of new technologies to leverage abundant and renewable resources for the production of energy carriers and petrochemical precursors. Methanol-to-olefins catalysis represents a feedstock agnostic route for the production of ethylene and propylene at industrial scale. The catalysis occurs on zeotypes and zeolites—crystalline solid acids with apertures and voids of molecular dimension—via a chain carrier mechanism with distinct chemistry for initiation, propagation, and termination phases. Here, we describe mechanistic investigation into chain carrier propagation and termination that resolves reaction mechanisms and elucidates material properties and reaction parameters necessary to design catalysts and processes conferring high catalyst stability and high ethylene and propylene yields.