Production of Isobutylene from Syngas – Isosynthesis Over Zirconia-Based Catalysts

Abstract This study presents the conversion of syngas (synthesis gas, CO + H 2 ) into isobutylene with monoclinic zirconia ( m- ZrO 2 ), mixed monoclinic/tetragonal zirconia ( m / t -ZrO 2 ), tetragonal zirconia ( t- ZrO 2 ) and Ce/La-doped zirconia samples. The physical and chemical properties of the catalyst samples were characterised with nitrogen physisorption, NH 3 and CO 2 temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) and diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS). Sample material crystal structures were analysed with powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) analysis. The pure monoclinic ZrO 2 sample showed the best catalytic performance with 66% CO conversion and 44 mol-% C/hydrocarbons isobutylene selectivity at reaction conditions of 450 °C, 45 bar, GHSV = 2000 h −1 , and CO: H 2 = 1:1. While pure monoclinic ZrO 2 was a highly efficient catalyst for the isosynthesis reaction, pure tetragonal ZrO 2 produced only a minor amount of isobutylene (~ 1 mol-%C/hydrocarbons). Interestingly, Ce/La-doped zirconia had a cubic/tetragonal crystal structure, while showing selectivity and activity comparable to m -ZrO 2 (CO conversion 64% and isobutylene selectivity of 40 mol-% C/hydrocarbons). Although samples with a purely t -ZrO₂ crystal phase significantly reduced the desired isobutylene selectivity, catalysts with relatively high Ce/La loadings (17% and 5% of the total catalyst mass) in the cubic/tetragonal crystal structure achieved high isobutylene activity and selectivity, owing to the dopant-induced high base-to-acid site ratio and enhanced synthesis gas adsorption capacity. According to the results from density functional theory (DFT) calculations, the poor selectivity of the t- ZrO 2 phase towards isobutylene was due to the promoted intermediate methanation on the coordinatively saturated sites of t- ZrO 2 . Compared to the t -ZrO 2 sample, m -ZrO 2 showed high isobutylene selectivity and activity related to high base to acid site ratio, high synthesis gas adsorption capacity, and kinetically favourable crystal structure to form C 2+ hydrocarbons from C 1 intermediates. These results are important factors in the future work to prepare intrinsically active and isobutylene selective catalysts for the isosynthesis reaction.