Understanding the Mechanisms of Decalin Hydroprocessing Using Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Chromatography

Abstract

Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC × GC) is a powerful technique for analyzing mixtures of hundreds of hydrocarbons. In the context of fuel upgrading through selective ring opening, we propose a methodology for GC × GC analysis of complex mixtures resulting from the hydroprocessing of a single model gas oil compound, decalin, over two different types of bifunctional catalysts based on a transition-metal sulfide (NiWS on amorphous silica–alumina) or a noble metal (Ir on La,Na–Y zeolite). The reactions lead to several products families, the dominant ones being ring-opening products (ROPs) and skeletal-isomerization products (SkIPs). First, it is shown that the ROP distribution can be characterized in terms of isomerization degree by using the cumulative distribution function of the GC × GC (GC Image) software. Second, in a more quantitative approach, the products families have been subdivided into chemical groups, according to the isomerization degrees of the individual compounds, which we...