Investigation of the catalysts for selective ethylbenzene dealkylation from a mixed feed of xylenes

Mirchi, Arman; Kazemeini, Mohammad; Soltanali, Saeed; Seif Mohaddecy, S. Reza

doi:10.22034/ijche.2025.492460.1475

Investigation of the catalysts for selective ethylbenzene dealkylation from a mixed feed of xylenes

Articles in Press

Authors

Arman Mirchi ¹

Mohammad Kazemeini ²

Saeed Soltanali ³

S. Reza Seif Mohaddecy ⁴

¹ PhD. Student, Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

² PhD. Professor, Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

³ PhD. Associate Professor, Catalyst Technology Development Division, Research Institute of Petroleum Industry, Tehran, Iran

⁴ MSc. Instructor, Catalyst Technology Development Division, Research Institute of Petroleum Industry, Tehran, Iran

10.22034/ijche.2025.492460.1475

Abstract

Paraxylene is known as the most important and widely-used isomer within the xylenes due to its wide applications. The presence of ethylbenzene as an undesirable component amongst xylene isomers has long been considered a major challenge in the process of xylene isomerization. To optimize process performance, converting ethylbenzene to other products is essential. On the other hand, in addition to the effective conversion of ethylbenzene, the loss of xylenes must be desirably prevented. Therefore, the catalyst used must have high shape selectivity towards the conversion of ethylbenzene. The use of appropriate hydrogenation metals and various surface modification methods, including silanization, dealumination, and selective poisoning, as well as the use of different binders have been investigated to achieve maximum ethylbenzene conversion while to minimize xylene loss in the design of catalysts for the xylene isomerization. This study, aimed at improving the performance of the process above, examines researches conducted upon the effect of the aforementioned modification methods and changing of the operating conditions upon the catalyst performance of the ethylbenzene conversion and xylene isomerization processes.

Keywords

ethylbenzene dealkylation

xylene isomerization

shape-selectivity

hydrogenation metal

surface modification methods

Subjects