Wan et al. (2014)employed a
hierarchical H-ZSM-5 catalyst of 0.18 mL/g mesopore volume and
compared its MTG performance with that of a conventional H-ZSM-5 catalyst with 0.03 mL/g mesopore volume. The MTG reaction was
conducted at 350
C, 1.2 h
1
and 1.1 MPa for a period of 24 h. The
hierarchical catalyst produced 99.6% methanol conversion
compared to 89.7% for the conventional catalyst. Similarly, the
selectivity to gasoline range hydrocarbons (i.e. paraffins and aromatics) was 58.9% for the hierarchical catalyst compared to 28.4%
for the conventional catalyst. The larger mesopore volume of the
hierarchical H-ZSM-5 catalyst improved the diffusion of reactants
and products and consequently increased the selectivity to desired
reaction products