Herein, we report a highly selective production route for butadiene from γ-valerolactone over zeolite catalysts. The catalytic performance of eight zeolites with different framework topologies were compared, revealing that zeolites with narrower 10-membered ring channels exhibit enhanced selectivity of butadiene. Specifically, ZSM-35 and ZSM-22, featuring the narrowest 10-membered ring channels, demonstrate the highest butadiene selectivity to 61% and 59%, respectively. Notably, surface passivation of ZSM-35 leads to a remarkable increase in butadiene selectivity to 82%, maintaining a 99% conversion. Additionally, we propose a reaction network and identify cyclopentenone as a key intermediate in the transformation of γ-valerolactone to butadiene. Both experimental and theoretical results conclude that confinement effect of 10-membered ring channels improves the selectivity of butadiene.
Keywords: Butadiene; Passivation; ZSM-35; confinement effect; γ-valerolactone.
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