Issue
Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering,
Vol.18, No.1, 120-126, 2001
The Skeletal Isomerization of C-4-C-7 1-Olefins over Ferrierite and ZSM-5 Zeolite Catalysts
The skeletal isomerization of C-4-C-7 1-olefins was studied on ferrierite (FER) and ZSM-5 (MFI) zeolites to elucidate the effect of the molecular distribution in zeolite pores on the selectivity for iso-olefin formation. Regardless of the difference in molecular length of 1-olefins, the FER zeolite showed high selectivity for iso-olefins, while the selectivity became slightly low at the skeletal isomerization of long olefin molecules. The drastic decrease in the selectivity of MFI zeolites by increasing the conversion is concurrently observed in the skeletal isomerization of C-4-C-7 1-olefins. The high selectivity of FER zeolites is explained by their sparse distributions of olefin molecules in pores, which induces a high preference for monomolecular skeletal isomerization.