| The alkylation of toluene reaction on natural clinoptilolite was carried out in a differential fixed-bed reactor. The natural zeolite was treated under the strictly defined conditions of thermal and acidic treatments of parent rocks. Hydrothermal reaction was conducted with HCl-treated clinoptilolite at 50 œC. The acidic-clinoptilolites zeolites (AC) were modified chemically by adding silicon layers on its surface at nanometric scale. Catalytic reactions using acidic modified clinoptilolites (AMC) as catalysts were carried out at 350 to 500 œC. The ratio of reactants (toluene/ethanol) was kept 3:1 with a flow WHSV of 2 h -1. The organic products of the reactions were analyzed by gas chromatography. High-resolution electron microscopy (HRTEM) was used to observe the modified surfaces of catalysts. The effect of chemical modification of natural clinoptilolite in the alkylation of toluene was carrying out by ethanol media. The AC showed activity to the formation of ethyltoluene. The added silicon on acidic clinoptilolite samples favored the conversion of toluene to 23 mass.%. Added silicon contributed to increase the formation of ethyltoluene at 75 mass.%. Catalyst test results indicated the possibility of using clinoptilolite as a raw material in the preparation of catalysts for alkylation of toluene with ethanol reaction. |
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