Hydrocracking Reactions Research Articles

Performance and techno-economic evaluations of co-processing residual heavy fraction in bio-oil hydrotreating

Fast pyrolysis of biomass followed by hydrotreating can contribute to renewable fuel by producing hydrocarbon fuel blendstocks. Upgrading bio-oil via hydrotreating technology can be both capital and operating cost intensive. This study provides an approach to improve the process economics by eliminating the separate hydrocracking step that converts the heavier-than-diesel fraction (residue with boiling point >338 °C) and recycling the residue and co-processing it with stabilized bio-oil in the hydrotreating reactor. We report here the performance of co-processing a pine bio-oil residue with stabilized oak and pine bio-oil in a continuous flow hydrotreater. With the residue co-processing ratios (6/100 to 13.5/100 g/g residue to bio-oil ratio) used in this research, 30–50 % of the residue was converted to lighter products (diesel, jet, and gasoline range products) with no effect on bio-oil conversion. This suggests that parallel hydrotreating and hydrocracking reactions were occurring in the hydrotreater during co-processing with potential synergy between the two components. The study determined economic impact of the improved process, in which the separate hydrocracker was eliminated, and the residue fraction that was recycled to the hydrotreating reactor. The results showed a 6% reduction in the conversion cost. Approximately 57 % of the cost reduction was due to elimination of capital equipment and 43 % was due to lowering operating costs, including decreases in chemical consumption, utilities, and labor.

In Situ Generated Nanosized Sulfide Ni-W Catalysts Based on Zeolite for the Hydrocracking of the Pyrolysis Fuel Oil into the BTX Fraction

The hydrocracking reaction of a pyrolysis fuel oil fraction using in situ generated nano-sized NiWS-sulfide catalysts is studied. The obtained catalysts were defined using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The features of catalytically active phase generation, as well as its structure and morphology were considered. The catalytic reactivity of in situ generated catalysts was evaluated using the hydrocracking reaction of pyrolysis fuel oil to obtain a light fraction to be used as a feedstock for benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX) production. It was demonstrated that the temperature of 380 °C, pressure of 5 MPa, and catalyst-to-feedstock ratio of 4% provide for a target fraction (IPB −180 °C) yield of 44 wt %, and the BTX yield of reaching 15 wt %.

Promoting effect of CaO-MgO mixed oxide on Ni/γ-Al2O3 catalyst for selective catalytic deoxygenation of palm oil

The study presented herein examines, for the first time in the literature, the role of CaO-MgO as a modifier of γ-Αl2O3 for Ni catalysts for the production of green diesel through the deoxygenation of palm oil. The characteristics of the catalytic samples were examined by N2 adsorption/desorption, XRD, NH3-TPD, CO2-TPD, H2-TPR, XPS and TEM analysis. The carbon deposited on the catalytic surfaces was characterized by TPO, Raman and TEM/HR-TEM. Experiments were conducted between 300 and 400 °C, at 30 bar. Maximum triglyceride conversion and the yield of the target n–C15–n–C18 paraffins increased with temperature up to 375 °C for both catalysts. Both samples promoted deCO2 and deCO deoxygenation reactions much more extensively than HDO. However, although both catalysts exhibited similar activity at the optimal temperature of 375 °C, the Ni/modAl was more active at lower reaction temperatures, which can be probably understood on the basis of the increased dispersion of Ni on its surface and its lower acidity, which suppressed hydrocracking reactions. Time-on-stream experiments carried out for 20 h showed that the Ni/modAl catalyst was considerably more stable than the Ni/Al, which was attributed to the lower amount and lower crystallinity of the carbon deposits and to the suppression of sintering due to the presence of the CaO-MgO modifiers.

Hydrocracking and hydrotreating reaction kinetics of heavy oil in CSTR using a dispersed catalyst

A kinetic model for the slurry-phase hydrocracking of vacuum residue was proposed under conditions of: 410–450 °C, 0.25–1 hr−1, 160 bar, 1500 Nm3/m3 of H2 to oil ratio, and 500 ppm catalyst (Mo-octoate). A five-lump model with ten reaction pathways was adopted to describe the hydrocracking kinetics, while the hydrotreating reactions were modeled by the power-law approach. The kinetic parameters were estimated considering the change in liquid density with reaction time. The kinetic model predicted product yields and concentrations with an average error of less than 10%. As for the hydrocracking reaction, it was demonstrated that the secondary cracking of VGO mainly produced MD at high temperature and the high conversion of RES. As for hydrotreating, it was confirmed that asphaltene conversion proceeded to increase the removal level of other impurities. Finally, a hydrogen consumption rate model was proposed based on HCK and HDT, which provides consistent information for further uses in reactor modeling and process modeling.

Heavy oil hydrocracking kinetics with nano-nickel dispersed in PEG300 as slurry phase catalyst using batch reactor

The kinetics of slurry phase heavy oil hydrocracking with nickel nanoparticles dispersed in PEG300 as the slurry phase catalyst was investigated. Colloidal metal nanoparticles were synthesized using a chemical reduction method. Catalytic evaluations were performed in a batch reactor with 7.0 MPa H2 and varying temperatures (310–370 °C) and reaction times (4–72 h). A five-lump kinetic model was used to obtain kinetic parameters using the R software with the Levenberg-Marquardt nonlinear least-squares algorithm. The order of the residue hydrocracking reaction rate equation was 2.5. The activation energies were determined, and the calculated product compositions were in agreement with the experimental values (<5%). The residue exhibited high selectivity towards naphtha. High residue conversion was accomplished, even at low reaction times.

Reaction characteristics and sediment formation of slurry phase hydrocracking with vacuum residue in a bench-scale bubble column reactor

This study investigated the hydrocracking reaction performance of Mo-dispersed catalysts in relation to operating conditions in a bench scale slurry bubble column reactor. Experiments were performed at various temperatures (405–435 °C), LHSV (0.2–0.45 h−1), superficial gas velocities (0.4–2.2 cm/s) and pressures (80–180 bar). As a result, it was found that the temperature and LHSV influenced the VR conversion, and the yield and properties of the product had a strong dependence on the VR conversion. And a reliable correlation between product yield, properties and VR conversion can be obtained using these relationships. In terms of the hydrogenation reaction, the change of hydrogen pressure significantly affected the removal of impurities, with reduced sediments. Even with the dispersed catalysts, it was confirmed that the sediment content rapidly increased at a certain VR conversion (about 50–60 wt%) as similarly a heterogeneous catalyst was shown. Finally, it was found to keep the VR conversion below 60 wt% and the pressure above 120 bar for the stable operation of the slurry-phase hydrocracking and sediment control.

Direct conversion of glyceride-based oil into renewable jet fuels

Hydro-conversion of triglyceride to renewable jet fuel (HRJ) plays an important role in drop-in aviation fuels and has drawn the attention of scholars because of its potential to reduce aircraft pollution and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. A direct one-step conversion of glyceride-based oil into HRJ over NiAg supported on SAPO-11 zeolite was investigated in this paper. Also, the properties of the catalysts were characterized using XRD, TEM, N2 adsorption-desorption, TG and Py-FTIR. The NiAg/SAPO-11 catalyst showed good performance in terms of hydro-processing, hydro-cracking, and hydro-isomerization reactions with the assistance of citric acid (CA) and phosphotungstic acid hydrate (HPW). The key to high conversion, high selectivity, and high iso-alkane content depended mostly on the reaction temperature, metal dispersion, acid content and the pore structures of the zeolite. Furthermore, the fuel properties were tested in a GC-MS/FID and flash point tester to ensure to meet the ASTM D7655 specifications. Under the optimal reaction conditions, a conversion of 100%, selectivity of 84%, an I-to-N ratio of 2.1, a yield of 72%, an aromatics content of 7%, and a flash point of 58 °C were obtained. The mass, carbon and energy yield for both one-step and two-step processes were also determined. This study provides a novel technique for producing renewable jet fuel with higher production yield.

Selective hydroisomerization of isobutane to n-butane over WO3-ZrO2 supported Ni-Cu alloy

To develop a robust and efficient non-noble metal-based catalyst for selective hydroisomerization of short-chain iso-alkanes is of great importance, yet challenging. In the present studies, a series of WO3-ZrO2 supported Ni, Cu catalysts were prepared by incipient wetness impregnation. The characterization results of Mapping, XRD, H2-TPR, TEM, and XPS confirmed the formation of Ni-Cu alloy in the bimetallic catalysts. The results of NH3-TPD indicated that the formation of Ni-Cu alloy increased the amount of medium acidic sites and total acidic sites. Isobutane hydroisomerization to n-butane was used as probe reaction to evaluate the catalytic activity. With the Cu addition up to 1 wt% over 1 wt% WO3-ZrO2, the hydrocracking reactions were inhibited, leading to both a significant increase in the selectivity to n-butane and an improved stability of the catalysts. Under the optimized condition, the yield of n-butane was 38.86% at 450 ℃, 2.5 MPa with an H2/alkane of 4:1, and a LHSV of 1 h−1 over 1Ni1Cu/WZr. The activity of 1Ni1Cu/WZr remained almost unchanged after 123 h on stream. A possible reaction scheme was also proposed for the isobutane hydroisomerization to n-butane over 1Ni1Cu/WZr.

Scaling of lignin monomer hydrogenation, hydrodeoxygenation and hydrocracking reaction micro-kinetics over solid metal/acid catalysts to aromatic oligomers

A bottom-up approach was formulated and used as a strategy in our work to systematically investigate the removal of lignin functionalities and the hydrogenolysis of the typical bonds relevant for lignin. In the previous studies, the role of metals and supports of 16 commercial catalysts (Pt, Pd, Rh, Ru, Ni, Cu supported on C, Al2O3, SiO2, SiO2-Al2O3, HZSM-5, TiO2) was demonstrated for the catalytic activity as well as the interaction, synergy and interplay of different active sites. The present study is focused on the hydrogenolysis and hydrodeoxygenation of lignin dimer model compounds, particularly the cleavage of C–C and ether bonds. A few selected catalysts (Pt/C, Pt/Al2O3, Ni/Al2O3 and Cu/Al2O3) from the previous segment were tested here at different temperatures. Parameters (rate constants and activation energies) that describe the kinetic rates of oxygen-containing groups removal, ring hydrogenation and cracking reactions were optimized for two types of active sites (metallic and acidic) by a micro-kinetic model. While the work with eugenol resulted in transferable rate constants of different active sites across catalysts, the rate constants are transferable also from monomers to dimers. Specifically, constants for the HDO of eugenol were successfully applied for dimers reactions (mostly for the reactions of formed monomers). In this study it was shown that the hydrogenation of partially hydrogenated dimer proceeds slower than the hydrogenation of unsaturated reactant itself. Furthermore, OH group promotes, while OCH3 hinders hydrogenation. Cracking of Cβ–O was more promoted over the Ni, Cu and acidic active sites, while the cracking in other positions was more significant on the Pt active sites. 2-dimensional transferability of kinetic results for five model compounds demonstrates a fundamental description of mechanism and intrinsic kinetics for lignin defunctionalisation and depolymerisation.

Selective hydrocracking of light cycle oil into high-octane gasoline over bi-functional catalysts

Serial catalyst systems were evaluated on naphthalene, tetralin and light cycle oil (LCO) hydrocracking reactions. The CoMo-AY/NiMo-AY grading catalysts system presented the highest BTX content, yield and octane number of gasoline fraction. • CoMo/AY catalyst presented high selectivity of saturating naphthalene to tetralin. • NiMo/AY catalyst showed high activity of cracking tetralin into light aromatics. • A novel lumping kinetic model of naphthalene was proposed and calculated. • CoMo-AY/NiMo-AY grading catalysts was the best choice to convert LCO to gasoline. • CoMo-AY/NiMo-AY grading catalysts showed good stability and low carbon deposition. Light cycle oil (LCO) with high content of poly-aromatics was difficult to upgrade and convert, which had hindered upgrading fuel quality to meet with the standard of automotive diesel for the purpose of sustainable development. The hydrocracking behaviors of typical aromatics in LCO of naphthalene and tetralin were investigated over NiMo and CoMo catalysts. Several characterization methods including N 2 -adsoprtion and desorption, ammonia temperature-programmed desorption (NH 3 -TPD), Pyridine infrared spectroscopy (Py-IR), CO infrared spectroscopy (CO-IR), Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were applied to determine the properties of different catalysts. The results showed that CoMo catalyst with high concentration of S-edges could hydrosaturate more naphthalene to tetralin but exhibit lower yield of high-value light aromatics (carbon numbers less than 10) than NiMo catalyst. NiMo catalyst with high concentration of Mo-edges also presented a higher selectivity of converting naphthalene into cyclanes than CoMo catalyst. Subsequently, the naphthalene and LCO hydrocracking performances were also investigated over different catalysts systems. The activity evaluation and kinetic analysis results showed that the naphthalene hydrocracking conversion and the yield of light aromatics for CoMo-AY/NiMo-AY grading catalysts were higher than NiMo-AY/CoMo-AY grading catalysts at same condition. A stepwise reaction principle was proposed to explain the high efficiency of CoMo-AY/NiMo-AY grading catalysts. Finally, the LCO hydrocracking evaluation results confirmed that CoMo-AY/NiMo-AY catalysts grading system with low carbon deposition and high stability could remain high percentage of active phases, which was more efficient to convert LCO to high-octane gasoline.

ГИДРОПЕРЕРАБОТКА ДИЗЕЛЬНЫХ ФРАКЦИЙ НА МОДИФИЦИРОВАННОМ АЛЮМОНИКЕЛЬМОЛИБДЕНОВОМ КАТАЛИЗАТОРЕ КГО – 12

The paper presents the results of the study of hydrotreatment of hexane, decane and diesel oil fractions on a new aluminum oxide zeolite-containing catalyst KGO – 12, modified with metals with variable valence, phosphorus and lanthanum additives. The hydrotreatment process was studied in a high-pressure flow unit with a stationary catalyst bed at temperatures of 320 – 400° C, a pressure of 4.0 MPa, and a volumetric feed rate of 2 h-1. After hydrotreating the diesel fraction of oil on the KGO – 12 catalyst at 400° C, the sulfur content in the catalysate decreases from 0.141 to 0.0092%, and the solidification temperature decreases from minus 27 to minus 57° C. The study of the process of hydrotreatment of the n-alcanes diesel fraction on the KGO – 12 catalyst showed that hydrotreatment, hydroisomerization and hydrocracking reactions occur simultaneously. It is established that the developed KGO – 12 catalyst has a high activity in the process of hydrotreating the diesel fraction of oil and makes it possible to obtain low-setting low-sulfur diesel fuel.

Investigation of asphaltene dispersion stability in slurry-phase hydrocracking reaction

Asphaltene precipitation is known as a challenging issue to fully upgrade heavy oils. In this study, asphaltene dispersion stability and sediment formation for a slurry phase hydrocracking reaction of vacuum residue was investigated with changes of temperatures (405–435 °C), LHSV (0.20–0.45 hr-1), pressures (80–180 bar) and superficial gas velocities (0.4–2.2 cm/s) in a bench-scale continuous system. The characteristics of dispersion stability were examined with the solubility parameters at the flocculation point (UV titration), the structure of the asphaltenes (H-NMR), and sediment content in the liquid product (Hot filtration). As results, it was found that the dispersion stability of asphaltene was mainly dependent on the VR conversion. In particular, at about 50% of the VR transition, the solubility was found to be unstable and the amount of deposition increased dramatically. At the same time, microscopic observation directly confirmed asphaltene flocculation. However, when H2 partial pressure was increased, the hydrogenation reaction of asphaltene was promoted so that it could reduce sediment formation and improve both the asphaltene solubility and structure for the stable dispersion. On the other hand, increasing the superficial gas velocity did not give an effect on the asphaltene dispersion stability.

Preliminary study on the influence of catalyst dosage on coke formation of heavy oil slurry-bed hydrocracking

Molybdenum naphthenate was used as a catalyst to study the effects of the catalyst dosage on the product distribution, and the properties of suspended coke (Cokesus) and depositional coke (Cokedep) during slurry-bed hydrocracking of an atmospheric residue from Merey. The colloidal stability of product system, microscopic appearance of catalysts in coke, and the types and relative contents of Mo on coke surface were also investigated to elucidate the reason for those effects. The results showed that adding the Mo catalyst restrained the coke formation effectively, particularly the Cokedep. With the increase in catalyst dosage, the H2 consumption, gas, light oil, Cokesus, and Cokedep yields all initially decreased and then increased, while the conversion rate of raw materials initially increased and then decreased. In all cases, the highest yields were obtained at the same catalyst dosage. This indicated that increasing the catalyst dosage did not always improve the catalytic effect. The change trends of the colloidal stability of product system and the relative Mo4+ content on coke surface were consistent with the change trend of hydrogenation effects as the catalyst dosage increased. Increasing the catalyst dosage could result in the formation of more Mo4+ species with higher hydrogenation activity than other Mo valence states, which improved the system colloidal stability. However, when catalyst dosage exceeded a certain threshold, further increase decreased the relative Mo4+ content and reduced the system colloidal stability. This accounts for the influence of the catalyst dosage on the catalytic effects toward the heavy oil slurry-bed hydrocracking reaction.

Co-hydroprocessing and hydrocracking of alternative feed mixture (vacuum gas oil/waste lubricating oil/waste cooking oil) with the aim of producing high quality fuels

Hydroprocessing of waste cooking oil (WCO), waste lubricating oil (WLO) and vacuum gas oil (VGO) and mixtures of them are studied for high quality fuels production. The results are compared to VGO hydroprocessing results to illustrate the value added by blending waste oils to VGO, which is one of the well-known conventional hydroprocessing feed. The effect of blending WCO and WLO with VGO has proven a better performance in a fixed bed hydroprocessing reactor, over commercial industrial catalysts manufactured especially to hydroprocess VGO. Blending of WCO and WLO with VGO will reduce environmental pollution resulting from spilling of these wastes in addition to provide an alternative lower-cost feed than pure VGO. A binary bed of hydrotreating catalyst (Ni-Mo oxides supported on Al2O3) and catalyst specified for hydrocracking (Ni–W oxides supported on SiO2/Al2O3) were used. Hydroprocessing experiments were executed at a temperature range 380–440 °C, pressure of 7.0 MPa, LHSV of 1.5 h−1, H2/(HC)feed ratio of 400 Nm3/m3, and different WLO and WCO percentage of (10, 20 wt%). At the specified operating conditions, a high degree of conversion was noticed especially for diesel yield that increases by increasing WLO percentage in the feed mixture. On the other hand, increasing WCO content in the feed mixtures led to higher kerosene and gasoline yields. Higher rates of hydrocracking reactions were achieved by increasing the reaction temperature that was confirmed by the lower percentages of total amount of n-paraffins in the product final mixture with a higher WCO and WLO percent in feed mixture. In conclusion, at all studied temperature ranges it was confirmed that, by increasing the reaction temperature, the gasoline and LPG yields will increase on the expense of kerosene and diesel yields. However, the highest diesel yield could be achieved at 400 °C.

Biofuels of Green Diesel–Kerosene–Gasoline Production from Palm Oil: Effect of Palladium Cooperated with Second Metal on Hydrocracking Reaction

In this work, two kinds of catalyst called monometallic Palladium (Pd) and a bimetallic of Pd-Iron (Fe) were synthesised using aluminum oxide (Al2O3) as the supported material via the wet impregnate method. A monometallic catalyst (0.5% Pd/Al2O3) named Pd cat was used as control. For the bimetallic catalyst, ratios of Pd to Fe were varied, and included 0.38% Pd–0.12% Fe (PF1), 0.25% Pd–0.25% Fe (PF2), and 0.12% Pd–0.38% Fe (PF3). The catalysts were characterised to investigate physical properties such as the surface area, pore size, porosity, and pore size distribution including their composition by Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). Subsequently, all catalysts were applied for biofuels production in terms of green diesel/kerosene/gasoline from palm oil via a hydrocracking reaction. The results showed that the loading of Fe to Pd/Al2O3 could improve the active surface area, porosity, and pore diameter. Considering the catalytic efficiency for the hydrocracking reaction, the highest crude biofuel yield (94.00%) was obtained in the presence of PF3 catalyst, while Pd cat provided the highest refined biofuel yield (86.00%). The largest proportion of biofuel production was green diesel (50.00–62.02%) followed by green kerosene (31.71–43.02%) and green gasoline (6.10–8.11%), respectively. It was clearly shown that the Pd-Fe bimetallic and Pd monometallic catalysts showed potential for use as chemical catalysts in hydrocracking reactions for biofuel production.

Biofuel from Hydroprocessing Fish Oil

This paper deals with the hydroprocessing of Fish Oil (FO) as a source to produce biofuel. The hydrotreating experiments were performed at 380�C and 50bar pressure over the CoMo/Al2O3 and CoMoRe/Al2O3 catalysts. Through hydrogenation of double bonds and carboxyl groups of Fatty Acids (FAs), accompanied by secondary hydrocracking and isomerization reactions, there results a mixture of normal &amp; isoparaffin with 13-22 carbon atoms per molecule with physicochemical characteristics similar to diesel fuel. The hydrotreatment of Straight Run Gas Oil (SRGO) mixed with 5% and 10% (FO) was also studied. The research focuses on the influence of the SRGO-FO ratio and of the catalyst type on the yields and the physiochemical properties of the obtained biofuel. The results show that the hydrotreatment of FO and of SRGO-FO mixtures is an alternative for biofuel production with characteristics similar to diesel fuel.

Techniques for analysing and monitoring during continuous bio-hydrogenation of kerosene from palm oils

In this research work, analytical, experimental methods and monitoring techniques of bio-hydrogenated kerosene (BHK) production in continuous mode were presented. Two kinds of raw materials obtained from palm processing plant named as refined bleached deodorised palm oil (RPO) and palm kernel oil (PKO) were converted into BHK via hydrocracking reaction catalysed by Pd/Al2O3 catalyst in pilot scale. Firstly, both of RPO and PKO were pretreated by thermal technique. Subsequently, fatty acid compositions of palm oils were analysed by Gas Chromatography (GC). Then, hydrocracking reaction of RPO and PKO were separately conducted in continuous high pressure packed bed reactor (HPPBR). After reaction, crude-biofuel was refined into BHK via fractional distillation. In addition, some properties of BHK obtained from RPO/PKO such as were C, H, O elements, freezing point, flash points, total acid number and carbon distribution were analysed following the ASTM and UOP 915 standards.•Thermal pretreatment of refined bleached deoderised palm oil (RPO) and palm kernel oil (PKO).•Continuous hydrocracking reaction of palm oil was conducted in pilot scale.•Characterisation of bio-hydrogenated kerosene obtained from palm oil.

Selectivity of zinc-molybdenum catalyst to produce gasoil via catalytic hydrocracking of Kapook seed oil (Ceiba pentandra)

Various type of Zinc (3.25 %) Mo (6.34 %) Hz catalysts have been prepared using incipient wetness impregnation method. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive analysis x-ray (EDAX) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method. The performance of the catalysts, Zinc (3.25 %) Mo (6.34 %) Hz was investigated for the catalytic hydrocracking of Kapook seed oil (KSO) to hydrocarbon biofuel in a slurry pressure batch reactor system with a stirrer. The hydrocracking reaction was carried out at reaction temperatures from 300-400 °C and reactor pressure of 15 bar for 2 h under H2 flowing. The effect of reaction temperature on composition of hydrocarbon compounds, n-paraffin, conversion and selectivity in liquid products was studied with a variation of ZincMoHz catalysts. It showed the highest hydrocarbon content decarboxylation and/or decarbonylation were 18.61 area% of n-paraffin and the highest content for gasoil-range alkanes was 10.44 area% obtained at 400 °C. The result show that the Zinc (3.25%) Mo (6.34%) Hz catalyst activity was found that the gasoil fraction which triglycerides where cracked with long carbon double bonds chains over Zinc (3.25%) Mo (6.34%) Hz catalyst.

The study of chromium oxide loading on platinum chromium oxide zirconia catalyst for n-dodecane and 1,4-diisopropylbenzene hydrocracking

Hydrocracking reaction is one of the major processes in petroleum refining. To date, the exploration of a suitable catalyst for hydrocracking reaction remains challenging. The presence of Pt loaded on Cr2O3-ZrO2 promotes the catalytic activity and stability of Cr2O3-ZrO2. While, zirconia has an interesting thermal and mechanical properties which make it as a support material. Therefore, in this study, platinum chromium oxide zirconia catalyst (Pt/Cr2O3-ZrO2) with different Cr2O3 loading (1, 4, 8, and 12 wt%) were prepared by impregnation method. The physical and chemical properties will be characterized by the XRD and FTIR analysis whereas catalytic testing will be analyzed by n-dodecane and 1,4-diisoproylbenzene hydrocracking. The XRD results showed that the peak intensity of the tetragonal phase of ZrO2 and bulk crystalline of Cr2O3 increased with the increase in the Cr2O3 loading from 1 to 12 wt%. The FTIR KBr analysis showed the presence of monoclinic and tetragonal phase of ZrO2 and none or only negligible amount of coke formed during the reaction. The 2,6-lutidine adsorbed FTIR analysis showed that six bands located at 1675, 1660, 1650, 1640, 1630 and 1625 cm−1 corresponding to the Bransted acid sites whereas the Lewis acid sites located at 1608, 1603, 1593, 1580, 1565 and 1560 cm−1. For n-dodecane and 1,4-diisoproylbenzene hydrocracking, all catalysts showed 100% conversion except for Pt/12Cr2O3-ZrO2. Hence, the presence of tetragonal phase and Lewis acid sites play an important role for catalytic activity of n-dodecane and 1,4-diisoproylbenzene hydrocracking.

Experimental Study of Iraqi Light Naphtha Isomerization over Ni-Pt/H-Mordenite

Hydroisomerization of Iraqi light naphtha was studied on prepared Ni-Pt/H-mordenite catalyst at a temperature range of 220-300°C, hydrogen to hydrocarbon molar ratio of 3.7, liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV) 1 hr-1 and at atmospheric pressure.&#x0D; The result shows that the hydrisomerization of light naphtha increases with the increase in reaction temperature at constant LHSV. However, above 270 0C the isomers formation decreases and the reaction is shifted towards the hydrocracking reaction, a higher octane number of naphtha was formed at 270 °C.