A new catalytic process for producing 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene on nano-sized HZSM-5 by methylation of mixed xylene isomers with methanol

摘要

High selectivity (>98 %) of 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene (1,2,4-TMB) was achieved on nano-sized HZSM-5 by the methylation of mixed xylene with methanol. When a single xylene isomer was used as the raw material, the yield of 1,2,4-TMB followed the order of p-xylene > m-xylene > o-xylene. The results showed that high 1,2,4-TMB selectivity was mainly due to suitable pore mouths. The synthesis of 1,2,4-TMB by methylation of p-xylene with methanol was also demonstrated to be the most important route among all three xylene isomers according to the final analysis.