Aromatics are among the most important bulk chemicals. In the current chemical industry, the production of aromatics heavily relies on petroleum. The development of synthesis of aromatics from syngas produced by non-petroleum carbon resources such as coal and shale gas has attracted much attention. The direct conversion of syngas via conventional FT synthesis cannot result in aromatics with a considerable selectivity (<15%). The selective formation of aromatics from syngas is still challenging. Recently, Prof. Ye Wang’s group in Xiamen University developed a reaction coupling strategy, and reported that a bifunctional catalyst combined Zn-ZrO₂ oxides and zeolites enables the direct conversion of synthesis gas to aromatics with a selectivity as high as 80% and without loss of performance during a 1000 h. This work was published at Chem (2017, 3, 334-347), and previewed in the same issue of Chem (2017, 3, 202-204) with a topic “Aromatics from Syngas: CO Taking Control”. It was considered that this breakthrough could play a major role in future sustainable production of aromatics, and this new process could also further spur development and application of other syngas-to-chemical processes.

Photoionization Mass Spectrometry (PIMS) End-station of NSRL developed a synchrotron PIMS-based diagnostic method, and they detected ¹³C in the aromatic products by isotopic tracer method. The results provided the evidence of catalytic reaction mechanism of the CO self-promotion in the conversion of syngas into aromatics.

Breakthrough in direct transformation of syngas into aromatics