aithecomputerguy - 26-4-2016 at 10:16
The resources I found suggest that just passing methanol vapors over a suitable zeolite at a sufficient temperature generates ethylene, propylene, and
a small amount of butylene and butane. I can imagine this and similar reactions such as methanol to aromatics would be a cheap source for a lot of
reagents (e.x. pass the olefins through conc. sulfuric acid followed by hydrolysis to make ethanol and isopropanol). Unfortunately, my own home lab is
just a dream right now. In the meantime, does anyone have any experience, suggestions, etc. to share on the topic?
macckone - 26-4-2016 at 20:09
Generally you should post a reference in forums other than beginnings.
yes it is possible to create more complex organic compounds from simple ones.
the conditions have to be correct as does the catalyst.
aithecomputerguy - 26-4-2016 at 23:07
Sorry, I thought I did post one. http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/molsim/teaching/fall2009/mto/b... This is the best resource for the topic I could find, apart from papers that I
didn't feel like spending $40 to read. It clearly states the catalyst for it is a zeolite called H-SAPO-34, which does appear to be possible to
obtain. My question was more if I could just pass the methanol vapors over the catalyst at the right temperature, as that article seems to suggest, or
if it was more complicated than that. If I had a lab, I'd just try it and see what happens, but because I don't and my curiousity is killing me, I
thought I'd ask it here.
macckone - 27-4-2016 at 18:18
Short answer is yes it will work.
H-ZSM-5 is referenced more in the literature.
Temperature and pressure will influence the product results.
Too low on either and you get nothing, too high and carbon crud destroys the catalyst.