Syngas conversion to a light alkene and related methods

1. A method of producing a light alkene comprising:

contacting a catalyst consisting of tungstated zirconia with syngas to produce a product stream comprising at least one light alkene; and

recovering the product stream.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein contacting a catalyst consisting of tungstated zirconia with syngas comprises contacting the catalyst comprising from about 5% by weight to about 17% by weight tungsten oxide with the syngas.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein contacting a catalyst consisting of tungstated zirconia with syngas comprises contacting the catalyst with the syngas at a temperature of between about 250° C. and about 450° C.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein contacting a catalyst consisting of tungstated zirconia with syngas comprises contacting the catalyst with the syngas at a temperature of about 350° C.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein contacting a catalyst consisting of tungstated zirconia with syngas to produce a product stream comprising at least one light alkene comprises producing a product stream comprising ethylene, propylene, butylene, or combinations thereof.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein contacting a catalyst consisting of tungstated zirconia with syngas to produce a product stream comprising at least one light alkene comprises producing the at least one light alkene at greater than about 50% by weight of a total weight of the product stream.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein contacting a catalyst consisting of tungstated zirconia with syngas to produce a product stream comprising at least one light alkene comprises producing the at least one light alkene at greater than about 60% by weight of a total weight of the product stream.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein contacting a catalyst consisting of tungstated zirconia with syngas to produce a product stream comprising at least one light alkene comprises producing the at least one light alkene at greater than about 70% by weight of a total weight of the product stream.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein contacting a catalyst consisting of tungstated zirconia with syngas to produce a product stream comprising at least one light alkene comprises directly producing ethylene, propylene, butylene, or combinations thereof from the syngas.

10. A method of converting syngas to a light alkene, comprising:

heating a precursor of tungstated zirconia in air or nitrogen to a temperature of between about 350° C. and about 550° C. to form tungstated zirconia;

flowing syngas over the tungstated zirconia to produce a product stream comprising at least one light alkene; and

recovering the product stream comprising the at least one light alkene wherein heating a precursor of tungstated zirconia comprises forming the tungstated zirconia comprising tungsten oxide at from about 5% by weight to about 17% by weight of a total weight of the tungstated zirconia.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein heating a precursor of tungstated zirconia in air or nitrogen to a temperature of between about 350° C. and about 550° C. comprises heating the precursor of tungstated zirconia in air or nitrogen to a temperature of between about 450° C. and about 500° C. to form the tungstated zirconia.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein flowing syngas over the tungstated zirconia comprises flowing the syngas comprising a molar ratio of hydrogen:carbon monoxide of between about 1:1 and about 4:1 over the tungstated zirconia.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein flowing syngas over the tungstated zirconia comprises flowing the syngas comprising a molar ratio of hydrogen:carbon monoxide of between about 1:1 and about 3:1 over the tungstated zirconia.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein flowing syngas over the tungstated zirconia comprises flowing the syngas over the tungstated zirconia at from about 300 standard liters per hour per kilogram (SLPH/kg) of tungstated zirconia to about 1,800 SLPH/kg of tungstated zirconia.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein recovering the product stream comprises separating the at least one light alkene from other hydrocarbon compounds in the product stream.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein heating a precursor of tungstated zirconia in air or nitrogen to a temperature of between about 350° C. and about 550° C. comprises heating a zirconium oxide precursor and a tungsten oxide precursor in air or nitrogen to a temperature of between about 350° C. and about 550° C. to form the tungstated zirconia comprising tungsten oxide on zirconia.

17. A method of producing a light alkene comprising:

heating a precursor of tungstated zirconia to form tungstated zirconia, the tungstated zirconia comprising tungsten oxide at from about 5% by weight to about 17% by weight of a total weight of the tungstated zirconia;

contacting syngas and the tungstated zirconia to produce a product stream comprising at least one light alkene; and

recovering the product stream.

18. A method of producing a light alkene comprising:

contacting a catalyst consisting of tungstated zirconia with syngas produce a product stream comprising at least one light alkene at greater than about 50% by weight of a total weight of the product stream, the at least one light alkene comprising at least one of a C 2 alkene, a C 3 alkene, or a C 4 alkene; and

recovering the product stream.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein contacting a catalyst consisting of tungstated zirconia with syngas to produce a product stream comprising at least one light alkene comprises contacting a catalyst consisting of tungstated zirconia with syngas to produce ethylene, propylene, butylene, or combinations thereof at greater than about 50% by weight of a total weight of the product stream.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein contacting a catalyst consisting of tungstated zirconia with syngas comprises contacting the catalyst consisting of tungstated zirconia with the syngas, the tungstated zirconia consisting of zirconia (ZrO 2 ) and tungsten oxide (WO x ), where x is 2 or 3.