Research Article pubs.acs.org/acscatalysis
Kinetics and Mechanism of Benzene, Toluene, and Xylene Methylation over H‑MFI Ian Hill,† Andre Malek,‡ and Aditya Bhan*,† †
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States Feedstocks and Energy, The Dow Chemical Company, Freeport, Texas 77541, United States
‡
S Supporting Information *
ABSTRACT: The methylation of benzene, toluene, paraxylene, and ortho-xylene over MFI structured H-ZSM-5 and mesoporous self-pillared pentasil (H-SPP) with dimethyl ether (DME) at low conversions (30:1) showed linear rate dependencies on aromatic pressure and zero dependence on DME pressure for benzene and toluene. These results are consistent with studies performed for olefin methylation, and are indicative of a zeolite surface covered in DME-derived species reacting with benzene or toluene in the rate-determining step. Saturation in the reaction rate was observed in xylene pressure dependence experiments (at 473 K,
