1. Introduction
Methanol could be one of the main fuels used in future transportation when petroleum wells are depleted. Methanol is produced from synthesis gas (mixture of carbon monooxide and hydrogen), which is formed by steam reforming of natural gas or gasification of coal or from biomass. Methanol is available in abundance, therefore it has been used as a raw material for the production of gasoline and olefins. It can be obtained from renewable sources such as biomass.
Catalytic conversion of methanol to gasoline and olefins attracted many researchers when the price of fuel started to increase. The literature concerning conversion of methanol to hydrocarbons over zeolite catalyst is extensive [1–13].In 1970s, Mobile researchers found that methanol could be converted to gasoline over me soporous selective zeolites.Conversion of hydrocarbons from methanol using ZSM-5 has been investigated by Chang and Silvestri[7].
et al.[6]reported the effect of transition metals Co, Mn and Ni over SAPO-34 molecular sieve to check the activity and conversion.Al-Jarallah et al.[3] studied the effect of metal impregnation on high silica zeolites of the pentasil type MFI structure to investigate the methanol conversion to light alkenes.Tsoncheva and Dimitrova[11]converted methanol to hydrocarbons over different zeolite catalysts. Freeman et al.[5]investigated the conversion of methanol to hydrocarbons over Ga2O3/HZSM-5 and Ga2O3/WO3and the effect of loading
Ga2O3on to HZSM-5 on conversion and yield of hydrocarbons.Doping metal oxides such as CuO into the HZSM-5 framework usually results in the generation of additional acidic sites, and thereby modifies the acidity of the parental material. It facilitates the dehydrating activity of the catalyst and also helps to form higher molecular weight hydrocarbons in the gasoline range.
The objective of this study was to compare CuO/ZnO and CuO supported HZSM-5 and HZSM-5 under the same operating conditions such as temperature, pressure and flow rate, and to investigate the conversion and yield of hydrocarbons. CuO/ZnO loaded over HZSM-5 was prepared, characterized and experimented for their performance of methanol conversion.