Selectivity Enhancement to the Exclusive Formation of Ethyltoluenes and Hydrogen During Dehydroalkylation of Toluene with Ethane

The dehydroalkylation of toluene with ethane to the isomeric ethyltoluenes was studied on 0.4Pt/H-ZSM-5 at varying contact times (1/WHSV). At a high contact time of 1.0 h, toluene disproportionation and hydrogenolysis reactions dominate, resulting in low selectivity to the desired ethyltoluenes via the alkylation reaction. However, at a low contact time of 0.12 h side reactions are eliminated, resulting in maximum selectivities to the kinetically favored ethyltoluenes and hydrogen. Results at high selectivities to ethyltoluenes provide significant insight into reaction pathways.