Maximizing sinusoidal channels of HZSM-5 for high shape-selectivity to p-xylene

The shape-selective catalysis enabled by zeolite micropore’s molecular-sized sieving is an efficient way to reduce the cost of chemical separation in the chemical industry. Although well studied since its discovery, HZSM-5′s shape-selective capability has never been fully exploited due to the co-existence of its different-sized straight channels and sinusoidal channels, which makes the shape-selective p-xylene production from toluene alkylation with the least m-xylene and o-xylene continue to be one of the few industrial challenges in the chemical industry. Rather than modifications which promote zeolite shape-selectivity at the cost of stability and reactivity loss, here inverse Al zoned HZSM-5 with sinusoidal channels predominantly opened to their external surfaces is constructed to maximize the shape-selectivity of HZSM-5 sinusoidal channels and reach > 99 % p-xylene selectivity, while keeping a very high activity and good stability ( > 220 h) in toluene methylation reactions. The strategy shows good prospects for shape-selective control of molecules with tiny differences in size.