Hydrogenation of naphthalene with platinum—aluminium borate catalysts

Abstract

Naphthalene dissolved in n-hexadecane was used as a model compound to simulate the aromatics in diesel fuels for hydrogenation activity tests. The aluminium borate (AB x) supports were prepared by the coprecipitation method. The aromatic hydrogenation activity of Pt/aluminium borate catalyst (Pt—AB x) is higher than that of Pt—γ-Al 2O 3 catalyst, but its cis-decalin selectivity is lower than that of Pt—γ-Al 2O 3 catalyst owing to the higher acidity of AB x than γ-Al 2O 3 support. When the Al:B atomic ratio decreases, the hydrogenation and hydrogenolysis activities of Pt—AB x catalyst increase but the cis-decalin selectivity decreases. When boron is added to the Pt—γ-Al 2O 3 catalyst to give Pt—B x—Al 2O 3 catalyst, it improves the catalyst hydrogenation activity but reduces the cis-decalin selectivity since the acidity of the support increases. However, the hydrogenation activity of Pt—B x—Al 2O 3 catalyst deceases when the Al:B ratio is smaller than 8. The Pt—B x—Al 2O 3 is a better aromatic hydrogenation catalyst than Pt—AB x catalyst since its hydrogenolysis activity is lower.