JWRNAL OF

MOLECULAR
CATALYSIS
Journal of Molecular Catalysis 93 ( 1994) 337-355

Methylamine synthesis over solid acid catalysts:

reaction kinetic measurements
D.T. Chen 1*a,L. Zhang a, J.M. Kobe a, Chen Yi b, J.A. Dumesic a7*
aDepartment ofChemical Engmeenng, Unrversrty ofW~scon.sm, Madwon, WI 53706 USA
b Chemtshy Department, h%wlJmg Unrverslty, NanJmg, Chma

Received 28 January 1994, accepted 3 June 1994

Abstract

Kmetlc studies were performed over slhca-alumma and acldlc zeohtes to determme the effects of
temperature (from 600 to 700 K) and reactant pressures ( < 80 Torr) on the rates of methylamme
synthesis from methanol and ammonia Related kmehc studies were conducted of methylamme
dlsproportlonahon reactions, methanol dehydration, and reactions of methanol and dlmethyl ether
with methylammes The results suggest that the reactive species for methylamme synthesis are
adsorbed nitrogenous bases, while methoxy groups are reactive species for dlmethyl ether production
Dlsproportlonahon reactions may be important pathways for the production of the higher-substituted
ammes durmg methylamme synthesis The combination of rmcrocalonmetnc measurements, reported
elsewhere, and kmetlc studies suggests that acid sites are required m these reactions for the strong
adsorption of ammoma and methylammes, and weak adsorption sites are required to facilitate desorp-
tlon of adsorbed amme species from the acid sites

Keywords Acid catalysts, Alumna, Kmetlcs, Methylamme, Slhca, Sohd acid, Zeolttes

1. Introduction

The synthesis of methylammes from methanol and ammoma over acid catalysts
IS an important mdustnal process This reaction may also be a useful probe of
catalyst acldlty For example, m contrast to reactions such as hydrocarbon crackmg,
the products of methylamme synthesis are limited to three substituted methyl-
ammes, water, and dlmethyl ether Furthermore, the small number of reactants and
products allows for detailed studies of adsorption processes [ l] Methylamme

* Correspondmg author
’ Current address 3M Corporation, St Paul, MN 55144. USA

0304-5102/94/$07 00 0 1994 Elsevler Scxence B V All nghts reserved

SSDI0304-5102(94)00118-F
338 D T Chen et al /Journal of Molecular Catalysts 93 (1994) 337-355

synthesis also proceeds without catalyst deacttvatton over a variety of sohd actd
catalysts
Most of the literature on methylamme synthesis relates to the goal of achieving
high selectivity towards the lower-substituted ammes, dimethylamme (DMA) m
particular Mochida, et al studied a variety of metal oxide and zeohte catalysts and
found that Lewis acid sites alone are not active for the reaction [ 21 They suggested
that the highest selectivity to DMA was achieved over acid sites of medium strength
In contrast, Weigert found that Bronsted acid sites associated with H-mordemte
were not selective for the lower substituted ammes and that Na-mordemte was more
selective, though less active [ 31 Shannon, et al [ 41 proposed that a combmation
of strong and weak sues is necessary for high activity and selectivity, with weaker
sites allowing for weaker adsorption of the methylammes and more facile methanol
adsorption. These researchers suggested that Lewis acid sites may be associated
with low DMA selectivity, and they performed studies directed towards the for-
mulation of shape-selective catalysts for production of DMA [ 5-101 Small-pore
catalysts such as ZK-5 [ 61, rho [ 51, and enomte and chabazite [ 81 were found to
have low selectivity towards trrmethylamme ( <20%), while the rho and ZK-5
exhibited high DMA selectivity ( > 50%) Similar work was conducted by Herr-
mann [ 1 l] and Segawa and Tachibana [ 121 The latter workers formulated a
dealummated H-mordemte catalyst with high DMA selectivity
The primary focus of the aforementioned literature has been the development of
highly selective catalysts, and the correspondmg kmetic data were collected at high
conversions The present study was undertaken to probe the surface chemistry by
collectmg kinetic data at low conversions, m the form of turnover frequencies,
activation energies, and kmettc reaction orders In addition, we report catalytic
activities for the followmg related reactions methylamme disproportronation reac-
tions, reactions of methanol and dimethyl ether with arnmes, and methanol dehy-
dration Finally, we suggest catalytic cycles that are consistent with adsorption,
spectroscopic, and kmetic data For our work we have chosen to study acidic
silicon-alummum oxides, which have proven to be effective catalysts for methyl-
amme synthesis and which are used commercially It is important to note that we
have specifically avoided the study of shape-selective, small-pore zeohtes to msure
that our kmetic data are not influenced by transport hmttattons In this respect, we
have limited our studies to silica-alumma and the relatively large-pore zeohtes Y,
mordemte, and ZSM-5

2. Experimental

A flow-through apparatus operating at 1 atm pressure was used for reaction

kmetics measurements The reactor was made from a Calon VCR bulkhead union
with an inner diameter of 0 7 cm Gaseous reactants were fed to the reactor through
mass-flow controllers (Hastings HFC) Typical flowrates were 580 cm3/mm for
 D T Chen et al / Joumal of Molecular Catalym 93 (1994) 337-355 339

Table 1
Catalyst acldx propemes

Sample Acid site density (pmol/g)

NaH-Y-33 360
NaH-Y-65 1000
NaH-Y-82 1450
H-mordemte 710
H-ZSM5-13 670
H-ZSM5-35 360
H-ZSM5-225 74 a
sihca-alumma 90 Brensted/200 total

’ Value estimated from .%/Al ratlo of zeohte

He and 7 cm3/mm for NH,. Methanol was fed to the system with a syrmge pump
(Harvard Apparatus Model 11) , typically at 0 4 cm3 /h For methylamme synthesis
reactlon studies, methanol inlet pressures were typically held between 1 5 and 3
Torr, while ammonia feed pressures were typically m the range of 4 to 6 Torr Feed
pressures were vaned as necessary to measure reaction orders or to conduct kmetlc
studies of related reactlons (I e , methanol dehydration, methylamme dlspropor-
tlonatlon reactions, and reactions of methanol and dlmethyl ether with methyla-
mines) For these latter studies, methylammes were fed to the system through a
Nupro needle valve The entire system was made of stainless steel and heated to
423 IS
Analyses of the feed and reactor effluent streams were performed using a gas
chromatograph (Hewlett-Packard 5890A) with a packed column of 0 05 M/8%
KOH washed Carbowax on Carbopack B Samples (20-75 mg) were first treated
under vacuum for 1 h at 300,473,573, and 723 K, followed by calcmatlon under
flowing oxygen (100 cm3/mm) at 723 K
The catalysts used m these kinetic studies are listed m Table 1 Three catalysts
were prepared from NaH-Y zeohte (Lmde), with 33, 65, and 82% of the Na
exchange cations replaced by protons, and these catalysts are designated as NaH-
Y-33, NaH-Y-65, and NaH-Y-82, respectively H-mordemte was obtamed from
Conteka Corporation. Two H-ZSM-5 catalysts were obtamed from T Degnan of
Mob11 Corporation (Paulsboro) with &/Al ratios of 13 and 225, and these samples
are designated as H-ZSM5-13 and H-ZSM5-225, respectively Another H-ZSM-5
catalyst, designated as H-ZSM5-35, had a G/Al ratio of 35 and was provided by
W Haag of Mob11 Corporation (Prmceton) . The amorphous srhca-alummacatalyst
was obtamed from Davison Corporation and had an alummum loading of 13 wt%
The slhca catalyst was a fumed slllca obtamed from Cabot Corporation (grade EH-
5)
The acidities of the catalysts were assessed by infrared spectroscopic and mlcro-
calonmetnc measurements of pyndme adsorption The detads of these measure-
ments for the NaH-Y zeohtes [ 131, H-mordemte [ 13,141, and silica-alumina [ 151
340 D T Chen et al / Joumal of Molecular Catalysts 93 (1994) 337-3S5

Table 2
Average enthalpy changes of adsorptlon on H-ZSM5-35 and H-mordemte (all values are m kJ/mol)

Base Proton H-ZSM5-35 H-mordemte

aftimty AKlm.~ AH,,, AH,,,,

NH, 857 7 - 151 -69 - 158 -72

MMA 895 8 -204 -98 -219 -91
DMA 922 6 - 245 - 142 - 207 -134
TMA 938 5 - 155 -71 - 140 -66
CH,OH 773 6 -91 -42 -87 -60
DME 807 9 -79 -66 -99 -71
Hz0 723 8 -61 -75

have been described elsewhere We report m Table 1 the number of Bronsted acid
sites and the total number of acid sites for those catalysts that also display Lewis
acidity Further mlcrocalonmetnc measurements of the adsorptlon of ammonia,
methylammes, methanol, dlmethyl ether, and water on H-ZSM-5 and H-mordemte
catalysts [l] have been previously reported We summmze the latter data m
Table 2

3. Results

3 I Methylamzne syrztheszs reactzons

Catalytic actlvltles and apparent activation energies for methylamme synthesis

were determined for all catalysts, and reactlon orders m ammonia and methanol
were measured for selected samples Turnover frequencies were calculated by
normahzmg the rate measurements to the number of Brgnsted acid sites for each
catalyst presented m Table 1 Slhca did not show measurable activity for methyl-
amme synthesis or dlmethyl ether (DME) formation at the temperatures of this
study Typical ammoma conversions were less than 1 O%, while methanol conver-
sions were usually less than 20% For the actlvatlon-energy studies, ammonia
conversions were as large as 6 3% for slhca-alumma and 2 4% for NaH-Y-65,
while methanol conversions were 63% and 27% for the same catalysts
Apparent actlvatlon energies were measured for production of each of the meth-
ylammes and DME, typically over a temperature range from 550 to 720 K Fig 1
shows Arrhemus plots for rates of total methylamme synthesis for selected catalysts
The rate of DME production was generally of the same order of magnitude as the
rate of total methylamme production over all catalysts Examples of Arrhemus plots
for DME production are presented m Fig 2
Table 3 summanzes actlvatlon energies for production of the mdlvldual products
of methylamme synthesis for the different catalysts The apparent actlvatlon energy
 D T Chen et al /Journal of Molecular Catalysrs 93 (1994) 337-355 341

0’0013 I
0 0014
I . ..I 0 0015.
I ..I 00016
I . . 00017
. .
I . . 00016
.

Rg 1 Arrhemus plots for total methylamme production on NaH-Y-33 CO), NaH-Y-65 (V). H-ZSM5-35 ( A ),
H-ZSM5-225 ( n ), and sdlca-alumma (+ )

for total methylamme formation varies from 11 to 26 kcal/mol, with an average

value of 17 kcal/mol The average apparent actlvatlon energies for mono-, dl-, and
tnmethylamme formation were 13, 20, and 33 5 kcal/mol, respectively DME
formation proceeds with an apparent actlvatlon energy m the range from 9 to 25
kcal/mol, with an average value of 14 5 kcal/mol
The dependence of total methylamme formation at 603 K on ammonia partial
pressure IS shown m Fig 3 Amme production was first-order m ammonia over
NaH-Y-65, H-ZSM5-13, and H-mordemte catalysts The ammonia kmetlc order
was also equal to unity over H-ZSM5-35 at 623,673, and 723 K DME production
over H-ZSM5-35, NaH-Y-65, and H-mordemte catalysts was inhibited by mcreas-
mg ammonia partial pressures, as shown m Fig 4

00013 0.0014 00016 0.0016 00017 00016

l/r (K-‘)
Rg 2 Arrhemus plots for total methylamme producbon on NaH-Y-33 (0). NaH-Y-65 ( V ) , H-ZSM5-35 ( A ),
and slhca-alumma (+)
342 D T Chen et al /Journal ofMolecular Catalysts 93 (1994) 337-355

Table 3
Apparent activation energtes The total amme actwahon energy IS the apparent activation energy for total meth-
ylamme formation

Sample Achvatlon energies (kcalimol)

Total ammes MMA DMA TMA DME

NaH-Y-33 123 109 B 18 1

NaH-Y-65 26 3 119 24 0 396 96
NaH-Y-82 177 17 I 167
H-ZSM5-13 109 78 176 116
H-ZSMS-35 124 12 0 173 96
H-ZSM5-225 167 159 a 24 I
sihca to alumma 204 134 204 214 109
average 167 12 8 19 9 33 5 145

a For both of these catalysts, DMA was produced only at the lughest temperature studled, I e ,723 K Therefore,
an apparent activation energy for DMA productlon could not be calculated, and the acttvatron energy for productlon
of total ammes IS thus larger than for MMA

The vartatron of total methylamme formatron on methanol pressure is dependent

on the catalyst Methylamme formatron at 603 K over the H-mordemte catalyst
displayed a postttve-order dependence on methanol at low pressures (below 6
Torr) but became zero order at higher pressures The sthca-alumma catalyst, at
temperatures of 573,623, and 673 K, also exhibited a posmve reaction order over
the range of pressures studted These results are shown m Fig 5 The H-ZSM-5
catalysts demonstrated negative reaction orders m methanol at high pressures, as
shown m Fig 6 for H-ZSM5-13 and H-ZSM5-35 The NaH-Y-65 catalyst also
displayed a negative reaction order DME productron was generally first order m

2
d 5000;...:...:...:...:...:...;

NH, Pressure (Torr)

Rg 3 Dependence of methylammes production rate on ammonia partial pressure at 603 K for NaH-Y-65 (V),
H-ZSM5-13 (0). and H-mordemte (0)
 D T Chen et al /Journal of Molecular Catalysts 93 (1994) 337-355 343

900 . . . : . . . : . . . : . . . : . . .
Q) 800~-,
G,
CTi;j 700-- ‘I\

r
0 20 80 100
NH, F?~ssur:~(Torr)

Rg 4 Dependence of dlmethyl ether producbon rate on ammonia partial pressure at 673 K for H-ZSM5-35 (A)
and at 603 K for NaH-Y-65 (V), and H-mordemte (0)

methanol for all catalysts For example, Fig 7 shows DME production rate versus
methanol partial pressure for NaH-Y-65, H-mordemte, H-ZSM5-13, and slhca-
alumma
Turnover frequencies for total methylamme formation durmg methylamme syn-
thesis were calculated at methanol and ammoma inlet pressures of 1 8 and 5 4 Ton-,
respectively These results are shown m Table 4 The turnover frequencies appear
to vary by a factor of - 50 between zeohtes, while slhca-alumma shows slightly
higher activity.
3 2 Methylamne dmproportlonatlon reactions
Kinetic studies were made of methylamme dlsproportlonatlon reactions over H-
ZSM5-35, because these reactions may be important durmg methylamme synthesis

350 . . . . ; . . . . 1 _ . . I

300--
0

200

250:; /
150 !-
. :j;+/--
:d
100 .‘“;“.” . . . . I . . . . -
0 5 10 15 20
CH,OH Pressure (Torr)

Rg 5 Dependence of methylammes production rate on methanol patt~al pressure at 603 K for H-mordemte (0)
and at 623 K for slhca-ahunma (+ )
344 D T Chen et al /Journal of Molecular Caralysls 93 (1994) 337-355

g!
d
2oo-
150

t
A

,,. L_

0 “‘:‘“:“‘:‘“:“‘:..‘:...:...-
0 2 4 6 6 10 12 14 16
CH,OH Pressure (Torr)

Fig 6 Dependence of methylammes productlon rate on methanol partml pressure at 603 K for H-ZSM5-13 (0)
and H-ZSM5-35 ( A )

from methanol and ammonia When monomethylamme (MMA) was passed over
the catalyst at a pressure of 2 8 Torr, the pnmary products were NH3 and DMA
The results also showed that DMA can dlsproportlonate further to tnmethylamme
(TMA) and MMA at higher temperatures For example, 8% of the methylammes
produced were TMA at 592 K, and the TMA selectlvlty increased to 17% at 700
K The apparent activation energy for dlsproportlonatlon 1s low, equal to 9 4 kcal/
mol for MMA consumption Importantly, the dlsproportlonatlon of MMA 1s rapid
compared to the reaction between ammonia and methanol to form methylammes
For example, the turnover frequency of dlsproportlonatlon 1s 2 3 and 7 1 ks- ’ at
temperatures of 592 and 699 K, respectively, and these rates are faster than the

0 15 20
&,OH Pr&ure (Torr)

Fig 7 Dependence of DME production rate on methanol partial pressure at 603 K for NaH-Y-65 (0). H-
mordemte (0). H-ZSM5-13 (O), and sdlca-alurmnaat 623 K ( 4)
 D T Chen et al /Journal of Molecular Catalysis 93 (1994) 337-355 345

Table 4
Methylamme synthesis reactton rates at 667 K Inlet pressures of ammoma and methanol are 5 4 and 1 8 Torr,
respectively

Sample Turnover Reactlon rate

frequency (pm01 g-’ ks-‘)
(ks-‘)

NaH-Y-33 0 089 32 0
NaH-Y-65 049 490
NaH-Y-82 0 022 32
H-mordemte 12 850
H-ZSM5-13 0 66 440
H-ZSM5-35 061 220
H-ZSM5-225 0 040 29
slhca-alumma 56 500

turnover frequency for methylamme synthesis on this catalyst at 667 K (0 61 ks- ‘)

The dlsproportlonatlon of DMA was also studied At a partial pressure of DMA
equal to 1 2 Ton; MMA and TMA were the predominant products, with small
amounts of NH3 formed via secondary dlsproportlonatlon of MMA The rate of
DMA dlsproportlonatlon 1s approximately twice as fast as MMA dlsproportlonatlon
(the turnover frequency 1s equal to 4 4 ks- ’ at 592 K and 12 4 ks- ’ at 699 K)
This reaction proceeds with an activation energy of 9 2 kcal/mol In these studies,
the DMA conversion vaned from 13 to 59%

3 3 Reactions of methylammes with methanol

Reactions of methanol with MMA and DMA were studied to evaluate the relative
rates of dlsproportlonatlon and senes methylatlon processes Reaction condltlons
were identical to those used for methylamme dlsproportlonatlon studies, except for
the addition of 2 9 Torr of methanol for the MMA reaction and 3 2 Torr of methanol
for the DMA reaction
It can be seen m Fig 8 that the addition of methanol to DMA over H-ZSM5-35
leads to a decrease m the amount of MMA formed from DMA, most hkely due to
reaction between MMA and CH,OH to form DMA The rate of TMA production
remains essentially unchanged with methanol addition
Slmllar behavior was observed for the addition of methanol to MMA Speclfi-
tally, addition of methanol decreased the rate of NH, formation, the rate of DMA
production remained essentially unchanged, and there was a slight increase m the
rate of TMA formation

3 4 Reactions of methylammes and ammoma with DME

The reactlvltles of DME with NH3, MMA, and DMA were measured over H-
ZSM5-35 for comparison with the correspondmg reactlvltles of methanol Ammo-
346 D T Chen et al /Journal of Molecular Catalysrs 93 (1994) 337-355

Q) = 2000--
zo”
K 9
c :x00-- 0
00
‘3 u) %
gS lOOO-- 0
U= * l 4
,OE . 0
C
ns 500--
0
0
- 0 0

0 “‘:“‘:“‘:‘“:“‘:“’
580 800 820 840 880 880 700
Temperature (K)

Fig 8 Influence of methanol on DMA disproportlonation (0) MMA and ( 0) TMA produced Sohd characters
represent DMA dlsproportlonatlon results m the absence of methanol

ma and DME were passed over H-ZSM5-35 at pressures of 4 7 and 6 3 Tort-,

respectively, to produce MMA, DMA, and CH,OH The results m Ftg 9 indicate
that the apparent actrvatron energy for methanol formatton IS 16 6 kcal/mol, while
the acttvatton energy for total methylamme formatron IS 21 7 kcal/mol, about 9 3
kcal/mol higher than for the correspondmg reaction between ammonia and meth-
anol Addtttonal studies suggest that while methylamme formatron may have a
posmve-order dependence on DME at pressures below 15 Torr, the reaction
becomes zero order m DME at higher pressures
The effect of adding 3 Torr of DME to 3 Torr of MMA over H-ZSM5-35 1s
negligible However, as Fig 10 shows, the addition of 3 4 Torr of DME to 1 2 Torr
of DMA leads to a srgmficant reduction m the rate of MMA formatton and a smaller
reduction m TMA formatton at higher temperatures This effect IS smaller than the
effect of methanol addition to DMA

looo’.........:.........:.........:.........;

OS
32
K m 100-r
=o
OQ,
‘3 ttj
SE \ !
mz 10-r
2E k-my
a&
-
.
rMeOH
4-r MMA + hA

0’00140 0 00145
~~.-......:......“.:.... 0 00150 ““:‘“’
0 00155 . 0 00160
l/T (K-l)
Fig 9 Arrhemus plots for the production of (0) methanol, ( A ) MMA, and ( + ) DMA from the reactlon of
ammoma and dlmethyl ether over the H-ZSM5-35 catalyst
 Chen et al /Journal of Molecular Catalysts 93 (1994) 337-355 341

0
o-
500 ..~:...?...:...:...:...
560 600 620 640 660 660 700
Temperature (K)

Rg 10 Influence of dlmethyl ether on DMA dlsproportlonatlon (0) MMA and (0) TMA produced Sohd
characters represent DMA dlsproportlonatlon results m the absence of DME

0 15
CH,& Pressure Eorr)

Fig 11 Dependence of DME production rate on methanol partial pressure, m the absence of ammes, at 603 K for
H-ZSM5-35

3 5 Methanol dehydration

The dehydration of methanol to DME was studled at 603 K by flowing CH30H

at 1-15 Torr over H-ZSM5-35 The results of Fig 11 show that the reactlon IS first
order with respect to methanol pressure The turnover frequency for methanol
dehydration IS 2 6 ks- ’ at a methanol pressure of 1 TOIT Using the data shown m
Fig 4, extrapolated to 1 Torr ammoma and 1 Torr methanol, the turnover frequency
for methanol dehydration durmg methylamme synthesis over H-ZSM5-35 IS estl-
mated to be 0 22 ks- ’ This latter rate IS only 8 5% as fast as the rate of methanol
dehydration m the absence of ammonia Methanol dehydration to DME also occurs
slowly m the presence of ammoma on the NaH-Y-65 and H-mordemte catalysts,
which exhlblt turnover frequencies of 0 074 and 0 75 ks- ‘, respectively
348 D T Chen et al /Journal of Molecular Catalysts 93 (1994) 337-355

4. Discussion

4 I Factors affectmg dmethyl ether production

The rate of DME formation is inversely proportional to ammonia partial pressure

for all catalysts studted This behavior mdicates that ammoma blocks surface spe-
cies Involved m DME formatton Infrared spectroscopy reveals only methoxy
(CH,O) species on the surface under conditions of methanol dehydration [ 11,
therefore, methoxy species are the probable surface mtermediates involved m meth-
anol dehydration to DME, and these species are blocked by adsorbed ammonia or
ammes
The rate of DME formation from methanol m the absence of ammoma is first
order m methanol for all catalysts at 603 K Because the acid sites m the H-ZSM-
5 catalysts are widely separated, reactions between methoxy species on different
acid sites are not probable Thus, methanol dehydration mvolves reaction of a
methoxy species with another form of methanol that 1s not associated specifically
with an acid site, e g , physisorbed methanol Earlier calorimetric studies have
suggested the presence of two sites, one strong and acidic, the other bemg a weaker
adsorption site [ 1] The first-order dependence of the rate of methanol dehydration
on the methanol pressures can be explained if the acid sites are saturated with
methoxy species (1 e , the surface concentration is independent of the methanol
pressure) while the concentration of physisorbed methanol is linearly dependent
on the methanol pressure In situ IR studies indicate that the surface coverage by
methoxy species is high under reaction conditions for methanol dehydration
The rate of methanol dehydration to form DME m the presence of ammonia is
also first order m methanol Infrared spectroscopic studies show that the surface
coverage by methoxy species is low under methylamme synthesis reaction condi-
tions We speculate that the surface coverage by methoxy species under these
conditions is primarily controlled by the pressure of ammonia or methylammes,
and thus the fraction of sites populated by methoxy species is a weak function of
methanol pressure
The rate of methanol conversion to dimethyl ether is sigmficantly slower m the
presence of ammoma or other ammes Accordmgly, this reaction pathway is sup-
pressed under methylamme synthesis reaction condrtions This behavior is further
evidence that methanol dehydration takes place through an mtermediate (e g , a
methoxy species) that is blocked by adsorbed ammonia and methylammes

4 2 ESfect of reactant pressures on reaction kmetlcs

Prior to descnbmg the factors controllmg the observed reaction kinetics, it is

important to examme the possibihty of mass-transport hmitations The extent of
mtraparticle limitations can be assessed by the dimensionless Damkohler number
for diffusive transport, Rr E/C, D,, where R IS the rate of reaction per umt volume,
 D T Chen et al /Joumal of Molecular Catalym 93 (1994) 337-355 349

rP 1s the radms of the particle, C, 1s the reactant concentration at the surface of the
particle, and D, 1s the effective dlffuslvlty [ 161 Mass-transport hmltatlons are
negligible when the value of the Damkohler number IS less than unity Under
methylammes synthesis condltlons, the value of this dlmenslonless group 1s approx-
imately 0 06, suggestmg that the reaction kmetlcs observed m this study are con-
trolled pnmardy by the surface chemistry
Kinetic studies of methylamme synthesis show that the methylamme formation
rate 1s first order with respect to ammoma pressure for reaction temperatures from
603 to 723 K This result indicates that the surface coverage by ammonia 1s low
under methylamme synthesis condltlons This behavior 1s consistent with the results
of m situ IR studies that show the surface to be predommantly covered with
methylammes under methylamme synthesis condltlons The ongm for this behavior
1s that methylammes adsorb more strongly than ammoma [ 1] (see Table 2) For
example, the pressure of methylammes at the reactor outlet 1s typically on the order
of 0 2 Torr, about 500 times lower than that of ammoma at the highest pressures
studied However, the heat of adsorptlon of MMA 1s approximately 55 kJ/mol
higher than that of ammonia, and the surface coverage of ammonia 1s expected to
be 1% of the surface coverage of MMA at 623 K
A result of this study 1s the understanding that the dependence of the methylamme
synthesis rate on methanol pressure 1s rather complex H-ZSMJ and NaH-Y-65
catalysts show negative orders with respect to methanol, while H-mordemte and
slhca-alumma show zero and posltlve methanol orders This kmetlc behavior 1s
surpnsmg because methanol adsorption 1s relatively weak compared to the adsorp-
tion of ammonia and methylammes [ 11 (see Table 2)) and the surface coverage
of adsorbed methanol on the acid sites 1s expected to be low compared to the
strongly basic methylammes
The observed kmetlc behavior can be explamed m the followmg manner When
methanol reacts with adsorbed ammonia to form methylammes, a first-order
dependence on methanol pressure would be expected d the acid sites are covered
pnmardy by ammoma, this behavior 1s observed for several catalysts at low meth-
anol pressures As the methanol pressure 1s mcreased and the rate of formation of
methylammes increases, the reactlon products displace ammonia from the active
sites (because methylammes adsorb more strongly than ammonia) The rate of
methylamme synthesis decreases and approaches zero order m methanol The ongm
for the negative reactlon orders with respect to methanol 1s not clear at present We
suggest that this behavior may be related to the mhlbltlon by weakly adsorbed
methanol of methylamme desorptlon from the acid sites, as dlscussed later m this
paper

4 3 Formulation of catalytic cycles

The results of mlcrocalonmetnc adsorption studies provide important mforma-

tlon about the energetic stabilities of different molecules on the surface [ 1] It can
350 D T Chen et aI /JoumaI of Molecular Catalysis 93 (1994) 337-355

be seen m Table 2 that the heats of adsorption of the ammes on acid sites increase
m the order NH, < MMA < DMA, m accord with the proton affinities of these
molecules The heat of adsorption of TMA on acid sites 1s similar to that of NI-&,
despite the fact that TMA has the highest gas-phase proton affinity; this behavior
may be due to stenc factors Methanol adsorbs on acid sites with a heat of adsorption
lower than that of any of the ammes Thus, as noted above, ammonia and methyl-
amme coverages should be much higher than that of methanol The mlcrocalon-
metnc studies also show that all catalysts possess sites on which the reactants and
products of methylamme synthesis weakly adsorb with strengths ranging from
about 50-140 kJ/mol These sites may be associated with hydrogen bonding or
van der Waals mteractxons wlthm the catalyst mrcropores
A cntlcal aspect m the formulation of catalytic cycles for methylamme synthesis
reactions mvolves the possible role of surface methoxy species As noted above,
we suggest that methoxy species are reactive mtermedlates m the dehydration of
methanol to DME It IS less clear whether these species are mvolved m the synthesis
of methylammes from methanol and ammonia
We now present a general sequence of steps that descrrbes the essential aspects
of methylamme synthesis and related catalytic processes The first steps m the
sequence are adsorptlon and desorptlon of all reactants and products onto the weak,
non-acidic sites of the catalyst, represented by # These steps are followed by
migration of weakly adsorbed species to acid sites, represented as Bronsted acid
sites, H *, where * represents the zeohtlc lattice oxygen
The dehydration of methanol to DME can be represented by the followmg two
reaction steps mvolvmg methoxy species (CH; ) .
CH3 OH# + H * +CH; +H,O# (1)
CH,OH#+CH; +H* +DME# (2)
The catalytic cycle for methanol dehydration thus consists of Steps 1 and 2. This
reaction can exhibit first-order kinetics with respect to methanol pressure If the
surface 1s saturated with methoxy species Also, this reaction will be suppressed m
the presence of ammonia or ammes, because these bases Interact more strongly
with acid sites than do methoxy species
Under methylamme synthesis reaction condltlons, the surface ~111be saturated
with DMA and MMA, and only a small fraction of the acid sites ~111 contam
ammoma and methanol molecules Accordmgly, the probablllty of havmg adjacent
adsorbed methanol and ammonia molecules 1s low, and, the rate of methylamme
synthesis vta reaction between these adsorbed species would be negligible There-
fore, we suggest that methylamme synthesis takes place by reaction of a strongly
adsorbed species on an acid site with a second species that 1s weakly adsorbed on
the catalyst
Methylamme synthesis and dlsproportlonatlon reactions can be wntten with or
without partlclpatlon of methoxy species Consider, for example, the following
steps
 D T Chen et al /Journal of Molecular Catalysrs 93 (1994) 337-355 351

NH,#+CH; *HMMA* +# (3a)

MMA# + CH; =HDMA* +# (3b)
DMA# + CH; +HTMA* +# (3c)
A serious difficulty with these steps for MMA dlsproportlonatlon 1s that they cannot
predict the observed effect of adding methanol to MMA over the acid sites, 1 e , the
suppression of ammonia formation In particular, the NH3 produced m the reverse
of Step 3a cannot readsorb on acid sites because these sites are covered by strongly
adsorbed MMA species Accordmgly, adding methanol would not suppress the
formatlon of ammonia durmg MMA dlsproportlonatron, instead, methanol would
react with methoxy species m Step 2 to form DME In contrast to this predicted
behavior, the expenmental data show that DME 1s not produced when methanol
and MMA are passed over H-ZSM-5, and the pnmary effect of methanol 1s to
suppress ammonia formation from MMA
We suggest that the followmg types of steps are mvolved m methylamme syn-
thesis and amme dlsproportlonatlon reactions

MMA# + HMMA * =NH,#+HDMA* (4a)

MMA# + HMMA **NH; +DMA# (4b)
DMA# + HDMA * =MMA#+HTMA* (5a)
DMA# + HDMA * +HMMA’+TMA# (5b)
NH, # + HTMA * = MMA# + HDMA * Pa)
NH, # + HTMA * +HMMA* +DMA# (6b)
TMA# + NH,* + MMA# + HDMA * (7a)
TMA# + NH; +HMMA* +DMA# (7b)
The advantages of these steps for explaining the expenmental data are that two
acid sites need not be m close proximity for chemical reaction, and more weakly
adsorbed species such as NH,* are placed directly on acid sites The physical basis
for steps such as 4a and 4b 1s that the quaternary amme species associated with the
acid sites may rotate on the surface such that dlsproportlonatlon of these species
with weakly adsorbed species may lead to either of the reaction products becommg
associated with the acid site The reaction scheme represented by Steps 4-7 1s also
consistent with the expenmental result that the rates of MMA and DMA dlspro-
portlonatlon are an order of magnitude higher than the rates of methylamme syn-
thesis from methanol and ammonia In particular, the pressures of MMA and DMA
under the methylamme synthesis condltlons of this study are at least an order of
magnitude lower than the pressures of MMA and DMA employed for studies of
dlsproportlonatlon reactions The surface coverages by weakly adsorbed MMA and
352 D T Chen et al /Journal of Molecular Catalysts 93 (1994) 337-355

DMA are directly proportional to pressure, and the reactlon scheme represented by
Steps 4-7 gives the proper dependence of the dlsproportlonatlon rate on pressure
The reaction steps leading to methylamme synthesis and to the effects of adding
methanol to MMA and DMA may be wntten as follows

CH, OH# + NH; =HMMA* +H,O# (8)

CH, OH# + HMMA * +HDMA* +H,O# (9)
CH, OH# + HDMA * +HTMA* +H,O# (10)
Finally, reaction steps must be included that allow for the reaction of dlmethyl ether
with ammonia and the ammes We suggest the followmg analogous steps

DME# + NH,’ = HMMA * + CH30H# (11)

DME# + HMMA * +HDMA* +CH,OH# (12)
DME# + HDMA * *HTMA* +CH30H# (13)
The above reaction steps form catalytic cycles for the reactions of methanol,
DME, and ammes, and these cycles are depicted graphically m Fig 12 Major points
that must be satisfied by this scheme are that methylamme synthesis involves the
formation and partlclpatlon of strongly adsorbed species, and the rate of methyla-
mme synthesis 1s a rather complex function of the methanol pressure Furthermore,
these kinetics must be achieved despite the fact that the surface coverage of the
acid sites by methanol species must be low to be consistent with the mlcrocalon-
metnc and IR spectroscopic results
In the absence of weak sites, methylammes must desorb directly from the acid
sites to the gas phase Because the heats of adsorption of MMA and DMA are at
least 200 kJ/mol, the maximum rates of desorptlon are equal to 10h4 s-l at 623
K, assuming a normal value of the desorptlon preexponentlal factor equal to 1013
S -’ This maximum rate 1s several orders of magnitude lower than the observed
rate of methylamme dlsproportlonatton Furthermore, the activation energies of
methylamme synthesis and related reactions are slgmficantly lower than the heats
of MMA or DMA adsorption on the acid sites. However, the desorptlon of strongly
adsorbed MMA and DMA onto weaker sites is much faster (e g , lo4 s- ‘>, and
high turnover frequencies for MMA and DMA dlsproportlonatlon can be achieved
Accordmgly, we suggest that acid sites combined with weak adsorption sites are
critical for methylamme synthesis and related reactions, 1.e , acid sites are required
for the cntlcal reaction steps and weak sites facilitate desorptlon of strongly
adsorbed ammes from the acid sites
The complex reaction kinetics of methylamme synthesis with respect to the
methanol pressure can be explamed by the proposed catalytic cycle m terms of the
surface coverages by CH,OH# and CH; As noted above, vacant weak sites, #, are
required to facilitate desorptlon of strongly adsorbed amme species Because the
range of heats of adsorption for species on the weak sites 1s much narrower (ca 90
 D T Chen et al /Journal ofMolecular Catalysis 93 (1994) 337-355 353

DME# MeOH#

Rg 12 Catalytrc cycles for methylamme synthesis and related reactlons Each box represents a reactive surface
mtermedlate Verhcal hnes represent rcactlon paths, and mtersectmg honzontal bars separate reactants and prod-
ucts Arrows and shading refer to reaction rates under typical methylamme synthesis reactlon condmons dark,
sohd lines refer to pnmary production pathways, hght, solid lines refer to a secondary pathways, and light, dashed
lines refer to mmor pathways under reaction condltlons Arrows associated with honzontai bars indicate reversi-
blhtles of the steps

kJ/mol) than the range for heats of adsorption on the acid sites (ca 170 kJ/mol),
the surface coverage of these weak sites by CH30H# species can become slgmficant
at high methanol pressures [ l] Accordingly, these species can suppress amme
desorptlon
A direct effect of methanol on methylamme synthesis kmetlcs IS the formation
of methoxy species m the presence of methanol For example, DME formation
under methylamme synthesis reaction condltlons IS not mhlblted by methanol, and
this observed behavior IS consistent with the suggestlon that methoxy species are
reactive intermediates for this reaction However, while these species are involved
m DME formation from methanol, surface methoxy species are not apparently
involved m methylamme synthesis or dlsproportlonatlon steps Therefore, higher
surface coverages by methoxy species lead to lower coverages by reactive amme
species on the acid sites and to lower rates of methylamme synthesis
354 D T Chen et al /Journal of Molecular Catalysts 93 (1994) 337-355

5. Conclusions

Mlcrocalonmetrrc and infrared spectroscopic studies, reported elsewhere, have

been used m conJunctlon with the present kmetlc studies to probe the catalytic
cycles involved m methylamme synthesis and related reactlons over acid catalysts
The results of these studies have suggested the importance of both strong and weak
adsorption sites m methylamme synthesis and related reactions The reaction orders
with respect to ammonia pressure suggest that one of the reactive species IS strongly
adsorbed, I e , adsorbed mtrogenous bases for the productlon of methylammes, or
methoxy groups for the production of dlmethyl ether The reaction orders with
respect to methanol pressure demonstrate more comphcated behavior, suggesting
that other reactive species may be weakly adsorbed Amme species can react with
both methanol and dlmethyl ether, although reactions with methanol are more
favorable Dlsproportlonatlon reactions are fast, suggestmg that these may be
important pathways for the production of the higher-substituted ammes durmg
methylamme synthesis The combmatlon of mlcrocalonmetnc measurements and
kinetic studies suggests that acid sites are required m these reactions for the strong
adsorption of ammoma and methylammes, and weak adsorptton sites are required
to facilitate desorptlon of adsorbed amme species from the acid sites

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences of the Depart-
ment of Energy and through a Joint China-US Cooperative Research Grant admm-
lstered by the National Science Foundation Two of us (DTC and JMK) would
like to thank the National Science Foundation for graduate fellowships We also
wish to thank Randy Cortrrght at the Umverslty of Wlsconsm for valuable insight
durmg the latter stages of this proJect

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