Abstract
The catalytic conversion of C2H5SH on protonic molecular sieves, i.e. ZSM-5 with various Si/Al ratios,Ferrierite, Y, SAPO-34, was studied in a gas flow reactor. Ethylene and H2S are the main products, butsmall amounts of C1-C4 alkanes, C6-C8 aromatics, coke, CS2and thiophenes are formed. The catalyticbehavior strongly depended on both acidic and textural properties of solids. Assuming a pseudo first orderkinetic model, the rate constant and the activation energy have been evaluated for all catalysts. Over thebest catalytic material, H-ZSM-5 (Si/Al = 15), full conversion of C2H5SH was achieved at temperaturehigher than 673 K. Additionally, the catalyst lifetime measured at 823 K was more than 70 h of time-on-stream. With C2H5SH/CH3SH mixture, over H-ZSM-5, the conversion of thiols was total at 823 K for atleast 11 h. In that case, significant amounts of coke and aromatics were formed, but after the thermalregeneration with air, the spent catalyst recovered the properties of the fresh zeolite.