Monomolecular Cracking of Propane: Effect of Zeolite Confinement and Acidity

The effect of zeolite pore geometry and intrinsic acidity on the activation energy of propane monomolecular cracking was investigated for six topologically distinct zeolites with different pore sizes. Periodic density functional theory calculations were used to calculate the activation energy, while cluster models were used to calculate deprotonation energies. The computed intrinsic activation energies showed a smaller variation with topology than the adsorption energies. No correlation was found between the computed deprotonation and ammonia adsorption energies at the acid site and the intrinsic activation energy. Detailed analysis of the computed structures and properties suggests that acid sites with different pore topologies impose geometrical constraints on the ion-pair formed by the ammonium molecule, which differs significantly from those that affect the propane reaction.