Aromatization of light paraffins such as propane and butane was investigated on MFI-type catalysts containing Ga as an active component. Even with amount of Ga loading, Ga ion-exchanged MFI exhibited higher selectivity for aromatics, mainly benzene, toluene and xylene (BTX), than that of H-Ga-Silicate. This may be attributed to the presence of Al in Ga ion-exchanged MFI which increases the catalyst acidity. Further development was done by preparing H-Ga, Al-bimetallosilicate with the purpose of minimizing the catalyst preparation procedure. It has been found that H-Ga, Al-bimetallosilicate having Si/Ga ratio of 155 and Si/Al ratio of 40 exerted considerably high selectivity for aromatics, ca. 64% for BTX. This selectivity was comparable to that of H-Ga ion-exchanged MFI with the same amount of Ga loading. However, the bimetallosilicate catalyst can be prepared in only one step crystallization, which minimizes the catalyst preparation procedure.

Light Paraffins Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Aromatization Ga-containing MFI Catalyst Ga-containing ZSM-5

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