A review on the ethene-to-propene reaction over zeolitic materials: comparison of the maximum catalytic activity, reaction conditions, and molecular pathways

Abstract Propene is a key compound for the petrochemical industry and is the basis to manufacture many of the material commodities know by humanity today. Ethene-to-propene (ETP) catalytic technology has been designed to contribute in covering the ascending worldwide demand of propene foreseen for the next years, although such process is still under development nowadays. As far as the ETP reaction is concerned, different solid catalysts have been tested from which microporous acidic zeolites have been deeply investigated. The main goal of this review is to report the different catalytic activities obtained by systems based on zeolites with different pore structures under different reaction conditions such as temperature, ethene partial pressure, W/F ratios, and acidity. This activity spans the maximum propene yield obtained and the catalyst stability. Progress in the discernment of the ETP reaction mechanism over zeolites is also discussed. Both oligomerization-cracking mechanism and hydrocarbon-pool mechanism are proposed to occur concomitantly. By adopting this focus, the reader is able to compare the wide array of ordered microporous catalytic systems reported in the literature and discriminate the most suitable materials and conditions for the ETP process hitherto reported.