Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Catalyst design to direct high-octane gasoline fuel properties for improved engine efficiency

Journal Article · · Applied Catalysis. B, Environmental

The paraffin-to-olefin (P/O) ratio in gasoline fuel is a critical metric affecting fuel properties and engine efficiency. In the conversion of dimethyl ether (DME) to high-octane hydrocarbons over BEA zeolite catalysts, the P/O ratio can be controlled through catalyst design. Here, we report bimetallic catalysts that balance the net hydrogenation and dehydrogenation activity during DME homologation. The Cu-Zn/BEA catalyst exhibited greater relative dehydrogenation activity attributed to higher ionic site density, resulting in a lower P/O ratio (6.6) versus the benchmark Cu/BEA (9.4). The Cu-Ni/BEA catalyst exhibited increased hydrogenation due to reduced Ni species, resulting in a higher P/O ratio (19). The product fuel properties were estimated with an efficiency merit function and compared against finished gasolines and a typical alkylate blendstock. Merit values for the hydrocarbon product from all three BEA catalysts exceeded those of the comparison fuels (0–5.3), with the product from Cu-Zn/BEA exhibiting the highest merit value (9.7).

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation (NSF); National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1908135
Journal Information:
Applied Catalysis. B, Environmental, Journal Name: Applied Catalysis. B, Environmental Vol. 301; ISSN 0926-3373
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (31)

Unique properties of silver cations in solid-acid catalysis by zeolites and heteropolyacids journal January 2015
Development of a Detailed Gasoline Composition-Based Octane Model journal January 2006
Catalytic Co-Homologation of Alkanes and Dimethyl Ether and Promotion by Adamantane as a Hydride Transfer Co-Catalyst journal February 2011
Selective Homologation Routes to 2,2,3-Trimethylbutane on Solid Acids journal May 2009
Methods for Characterizing Zeolite Acidity journal May 1995
Conversion of Dimethyl Ether to 2,2,3-Trimethylbutane over a Cu/BEA Catalyst: Role of Cu Sites in Hydrogen Incorporation journal February 2015
Acidity modification of ZSM-5 for enhanced production of light olefins from CO2 journal January 2020
Single-site zinc on silica catalysts for propylene hydrogenation and propane dehydrogenation: Synthesis and reactivity evaluation using an integrated atomic layer deposition-catalysis instrument journal January 2017
Acid strength and solvation effects on methylation, hydride transfer, and isomerization rates during catalytic homologation of C1 species journal January 2012
Structure–performance descriptors and the role of Lewis acidity in the methanol-to-propylene process journal June 2018
The Nature and Catalytic Function of Cation Sites in Zeolites: a Computational Perspective journal October 2018
Mechanistic details of acid-catalyzed reactions and their role in the selective synthesis of triptane and isobutane from dimethyl ether journal January 2011
Chemical kinetics of octane sensitivity in a spark-ignition engine journal January 2017
Methanol-to-hydrocarbons: process technology journal June 1999
Oxidative dehydrogenation of propane on zeolite catalysts journal August 2000
Tailoring diesel bioblendstock from integrated catalytic upgrading of carboxylic acids: a “fuel property first” approach journal January 2019
Organometallic model complexes elucidate the active gallium species in alkane dehydrogenation catalysts based on ligand effects in Ga K-edge XANES journal January 2016
Spectroscopic insight into carbon speciation and removal on a Cu/BEA catalyst during renewable high-octane hydrocarbon synthesis journal June 2021
Propylene Hydrogenation and Propane Dehydrogenation by a Single-Site Zn 2+ on Silica Catalyst journal March 2014
Octane Rating of Gasoline and Octane Booster Additives journal June 2015
Economic and Environmental Benefits of Higher-Octane Gasoline journal May 2014
Exploring Low-Temperature Dehydrogenation at Ionic Cu Sites in Beta Zeolite To Enable Alkane Recycle in Dimethyl Ether Homologation journal April 2017
A Supramolecular View on the Cooperative Role of Brønsted and Lewis Acid Sites in Zeolites for Methanol Conversion journal August 2019
Theoretical x-ray absorption fine structure standards journal July 1991
Lifetime improvement in methanol-to-olefins catalysis over chabazite materials by high-pressure H2 co-feeds journal August 2018
Growing the Bioeconomy through Catalysis: A Review of Recent Advancements in the Production of Fuels and Chemicals from Syngas-Derived Oxygenates journal April 2019
Isotopic tracer studies of methanol-to-olefins conversion over HSAPO-34: The role of the olefins-based catalytic cycle journal May 2016
Tetrahedral Nickel(II) Phosphosilicate Single-Site Selective Propane Dehydrogenation Catalyst journal February 2018
ATHENA , ARTEMIS , HEPHAESTUS : data analysis for X-ray absorption spectroscopy using IFEFFIT journal June 2005
Methanol to high-octane gasoline within a market-responsive biorefinery concept enabled by catalysis journal July 2019
Mechanism of the Catalytic Conversion of Methanol to Hydrocarbons journal December 2012

Similar Records

Catalyst design to direct high-octane gasoline fuel properties for improved engine efficiency
Journal Article · Sat Oct 09 00:00:00 EDT 2021 · Applied Catalysis. B, Environmental · OSTI ID:1827631

Shifting the Paraffin-to-Olefin Ratio and Gasoline Fuel Properties with Bimetallic BEA Zeolite Catalysts in Dimethyl Ether Homologation
Conference · Wed Nov 20 23:00:00 EST 2019 · OSTI ID:1576476