Controllable hollow HZSM-5 for high shape-selectivity to light aromatics from catalytic reforming of lignite pyrolysis volatiles.

[Display omitted] • Synthetic hollow ZSM-5 (HSZ5) possess higher selectivity for toluene and m/p-xylene. • None-modifier catalysts keep high stability after 7 cycle reactions. • 11HSZ5 exhibits hierarchical meso -microporesity to rich BTEXN at 600 °C. • xHSZ5 show low coke resistance during lignite pyrolysis. Light aromatics could be produced by catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) of lignite over HZSM-5 with shape selectivity and accessible active sites. However, the catalytic reactivity in the center crystal has not been fully exploited. In this work, the different hollow hierarchical porosity-tunable ZSM-5 were synthesized using polyethylene glycol as a soft template by a steam-assisted crystallization process. Compared with commercial HZSM-5, the synthesized HZSM-5 exhibited higher selectivity for alkylbenzene (toluene and m/p-xylene) with the yield of 9.91 mg/g (7.31 mg/g over commercial HZSM-5). The hollow HZSM-5 with pore-size fine-tuning were favorable to control the tiny different intermediates for shape-selective of benzene and alkylbenzene in CFP. In addition, the unmodified synthetic hollow catalysts also kept highly stability after seven cycle experiments due to the enhancement of molecules diffusion in crystal center, especially the alkylbenzene yield was sustained at approximately 7.38 mg/g during cycle experiments. The work provides a great prospect to promote the formation of alkyl aromatics in CFP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]