Green Route To Grow Hierarchical SAPO-34 Crystal with Excellent Catalytic Performance in Methanol to Olefin Reaction

Abstract

A green route of synthesizing hierarchical porous SAPO-34 aluminosilicophosphate is developed by introducing NaHCO3 in the reactants. This method is inspired from the process of bread-making in which NaHCO3 is used as pore-forming agent. This method is green and low-cost because NaHCO3 is an inexpensive dietary alkali. In the methanol to olefin (MTO) reaction, due to the hierarchical porous structure and milder acidity, the as-synthesized hierarchical SAPO-34 crystal shows excellent catalytic performance with a lifetime of 206 min and ethylene plus propylene selectivity of 85.20% in comparison to the conventional microporous SAPO-34 zeolite of 156 min and 82.74%.