Cracking of n-heptane over Brønsted acid sites and Lewis acid Ga sites in ZSM-5 zeolite

A series of gallium-containing ZSM-5 zeolites prepared by wet impregnation, ion-exchange and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods are compared in the cracking of n-heptane. Impregnation results in the dispersion of some of the gallium oxide clusters into the zeolite pore network as charge-compensating Ga species after calcination. Reduction of impregnated Ga/HZSM-5 catalysts leads to complete transformation of the oxidic Ga precursors to charge-compensating Ga⁺ and GaH²⁺ species. A small amount of divalent GaH²⁺ species can be stabilized; however, with increasing Ga/Al ratio monovalent cations dominate. While a model Ga/HZSM-5 catalyst prepared by CVD of Ga(CH₃)₃ containing mainly charge-compensating Ga cations displays high selectivity to dehydrogenated products (olefins, toluene and coke), catalysts with a lower Ga/Al ratio display improved activity with a product mixture resulting from contributions of Ga sites (dehydrogenation, aromatization, olefin cracking) and of Brønsted acid sites (protolytic cracking, olefin cracking). The synergy between Ga dehydrogenation sites and Brønsted acid sites is proposed to improve the dehydrogenation rate: the high acidity of the zeolitic proton facilitates hydrogen recombination and concomitant removal of product olefin from the Ga active sites. Ion-exchanged Ga/HZSM-5 catalyst which combines a difficult to reduce gallium oxide phase and high Brønsted acidity has the highest activity with relatively weak coke formation.