Experimental and theoretical studies of reaction pathways in solid acid catalysis

A discussion covers mechanisms for hydrocarbon reactions on zeolites based on microkinetic modeling, computational density functional theory, and experimental studies; high temperature hydrocarbon-based reaction pathways in the conversion of light alkanes to aromatics over ZSM-5 based materials; steric effects involving the interaction of the adsorbed intermediate with the zeolite walls governed stability of the alkoxide species; carbonylation of dimethyl ether to methyl acetate; carbonylation initiated by methylation of acid sites and limited by CO addition; and alternative energy technologies based on biomass and C₁-derived feedstocks. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 2006 AIChE Annual Meeting (San Francisco, CA 11/12-17/2006).