Aromatization over nanosized Ga-containing ZSM-5 zeolites prepared by different methods: Effect of acidity of active Ga species on the catalytic performance

Abstract Nanosized Ga-containing ZSM-5 zeolites were prepared via isomorphous substitution and impregnation followed by characterized using various techniques. The catalytic performance of the zeolites for the aromatization of 1-hexene was investigated. The results indicate that isomorphous substitution promotes the incorporation of Ga heteroatoms into the framework along with the formation of extra-framework GaO + species ([GaO + ] a ) that have stronger interactions with the negative potential of the framework. In addition, based on the Py-IR results and catalytic performance, the [GaO + ] a species with stronger Lewis acid sites produced a better synergism with moderate Bronsted acid sites and thus improved the selectivity to aromatic compounds. However, the impregnation results in the formation of Ga 2 O 3 phase and small amounts of GaO + species that are mainly located on the external surface ([GaO + ] b ), which contribute to weaker Lewis acid sites due to weaker interactions with the zeolite framework. During 1-hexene aromatization, the nanosized Ga isomorphously substituted ZSM-5 zeolite samples (Ga x -NZ5) exhibited better catalytic performance compared to the impregnated samples, and the highest aromatic yield (i.e., 65.4 wt%) was achieved over the Ga4.2-NZ5 sample, which contained with the highest Ga content.