Method of regenerating zeolite catalyst for aromatization of acetylene by plasma treatment

A method for preparing an aromatic compound from acetylene, the method comprising the following steps:

• 1) synthesizing an aromatic compound from an acetylene-containing reactant gas in the presence of a zeolite catalyst for aromatization of acetylene, thereby forming internal coke inside micropores of the zeolite catalyst and external coke in space between catalyst particles, outer surface of the particles, and/or empty space other than the micropores;
• 2) (i) locating the zeolite catalyst used in step 1) between a high voltage electrode and a ground electrode, wherein the high voltage electrode is provided inside a plasma reactor and the ground electrode is provided outside the plasma reactor, and (ii) treating the zeolite catalyst with plasma generated by applying a voltage at a kV level to the high voltage electrode, so as to selectively remove 25 wt % to 50 wt % of the total amount of the external coke and 0.5 wt % to 10 wt % of the total amount of the internal coke from the zeolite catalyst, thereby producing a plasma-treated zeolite catalyst, wherein a ratio of an amount of external coke to an amount of internal coke in the plasma-treated zeolite catalyst is from 0.5 to 0.7;
• and
• 3) using the plasma-treated zeolite catalyst as the zeolite catalyst for the aromatization of acetylene in step 1).