The aim of this work was to verify the effect of MFI aluminum content and crystal size on the selectivity for para-diethylbenzene during ethylbenzene disproportionation. It was observed that the para-diethylbenzene selectivity increased as MFI crystal size increased. The increase in aluminum content caused a decrease in the selectivity for para-diethylbenzene. However, for crystals larger than 8 <FONT FACE="Symbol">m</FONT> m, the decrease in aluminum content had little influence on the selectivity for para-diethylbenzene. The results can be explained by the number of active aluminum sites on the external surface of the crystals.
Selectivity; crystal size; aluminum content
