Effective high silica ZSM-5 nanocatalyst including Fe and B promoters for production of high value petrochemicals in plastic upgrading process

Abstract

In this work, the catalytic cracking of polypropylene over the high silica ZSM-5 nanocatalyst was studied. The parent nanocatalyst was synthesized by hydrothermal technique, including boron promoter in the structure, and then modified with iron promoter through a multi-step wet impregnation method. The characterization was carried out by XRD, FT-IR, FE-SEM, BET-BJH, TG-DTA, and NH3-TPD techniques. The results confirmed the high crystalline phase, spherical surface morphology, high surface area (376 m2 g−1), mesopore structure, and well-adjusted acidity. The catalytic performance of the nanocatalyst was studied at different operating conditions. The FeNC nanocatalyst resulted in the high aromatic (76.4area %), iso-paraffin (7.1area%), and olefin (14.2area%) components, including 97.7area% of the liquid product at the optimum operating conditions: 575 °C, the catalyst to plastic ratio of 1:10, and N2 flow rate of 50 mL.min−1. Furthermore, the spent nanocatalyst had the low coke content (1.62 %), which was in line with the high reusability of the developed nanocatalyst through the sequence runs.