Alkylation of benzene with 1-butylene over β-zeolite modified by Fe or La

The catalytic performance of β-zeolites modified by Fe or La was investigated in the alkylation of benzene with 1-butylene in a fixed-bed reactor. Effects of metal content, temperature and feed ratio on the reaction were studied. The structure and acidity of modified β-zeolites were characterized by XRD, BET, NH₃-TPD and TG-DTA. The quantities of both strong and weak acid decreased evidently. Especially, the acidity of the β-zeolite modified by La is higher than that modified by Fe, and the La modified β-zeolite shows better catalytic performance and stronger coke-resistance, which is supported by the results obtained by BET and TG-DTA. Both of Fe and La modified β-zeolites show better catalytic performance than the original one. After 6 h reaction over 2.0%La/β-zeolites at 453 K with WHSV of 0.6 h^-1 for 1-butylene and of 1.2 h^-1 for benzene, the conversion of 1-butylene is 87.9% with the selectivity of 88.2% for sec-butylbenzene.