Catalytic Cracking of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to Light Olefins Using Zeolite-Based Materials: Recent Advances, Trends, Challenges and Future Perspectives

The catalytic cracking of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has attracted significant attention due to its importance in producing valuable feedstocks for the petrochemical industry. This review provides an overview of recent developments in zeolite-based catalyst technology for converting LPG into light olefins. Catalytic cracking utilizes zeolite-based catalysts usually associated with stability challenges, such as coking and sintering. The discussion focused on the underlying mechanisms that govern the catalytic cracking process and provided insights into the complex reaction pathways involved. A comprehensive analysis of various strategies employed for improving the effectiveness of zeolite catalysts has been discussed in this review. These strategies encompass using transition metals to modify catalyst properties, treatments involving phosphorous modification, alkaline earth metals, and alkali metals to alter the acidity level of the zeolites. The elucidation of the impact of silica-to-alumina ratios in zeolites and the development of hierarchical zeolite-based catalysts through top-down and bottom-up methodologies are also discussed.