The influence of the acid sites on the methylamines synthesis with Cu-HZSM-5 zeolite

There is a high industrial demand for MMA and DMA, however, the production of TMA is favored with the commercial catalysts. This work tested the methanol amination reaction with HZSM-5 and Cu/HZSM-5 zeolites (%Cu = 1.2, 3.7 and 6.0). Regarding the MMA selectivity, light differences were observed among Cu/HZSM-5 catalysts and pure zeolite, although the catalysts containing 3.7% copper was slightly more selective to MMA than the other metallic catalysts studied. From these results it is suggested that the metal loading present in the catalysts leads to a modi. cation in the nature of the acidic sites, in particular, the selectivity depends on ratio Bronsted/Lewis acid sites. This modi. cations would facilitate the amines desorption during the reaction.