Utilizing Colloidal Silica and Aluminum-Doped Colloidal Silica as a Binder in FCC Catalysts: Effects on Porosity, Acidity, and Microactivity

Abstract

This paper reports on the synthesis and characterization of fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts using two different colloidal silica materials as binders, where one was doped with 2 wt % Al2O3 and the other was without any dopant. The physicochemical properties such as attrition resistance, particle size distribution, surface areas, porosity, morphology, chemical environment, and acidity were investigated employing various analytical and spectroscopic techniques such as N2 sorption, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, 29Si and 27Al MAS NMR, and temperature programmed desorption of ammonia (NH3-TPD). It was observed that the FCC catalysts synthesized using colloidal silica have larger particle sizes than that synthesized using sodium silicate (baseline catalyst) as a binder and lower than that of a commercial FCC catalyst. They also exhibit relatively lower attrition resistance than the commercial and the baseline FCC catalysts; however, they exhibit higher BET and matrix s...