Influence of pore confinement on the catalytic dehydration of isobutyl alcohol on H-ZSM-5

Abstract

The dehydration of isobutyl alcohol has been used as a test to probe the differences in catalytic behaviour between an (acidic) amorphous aluminosilicate and samples of H-ZSM-5 of various crystallite size but of similar acidity ([H⁺]≈ 3 × 10²⁰ g^–1) as the amorphous aluminosilicate. Dehydration rates are shown to be independent of crystallite size (in the range 0.5–20 µm), but rates of oligomerization of the product butene are higher for the large crystallites.