Increasing Octane Value in Catalytic Cracking of n-Hexadecane with Addition of *BEA Type Zeolite

• Main Authors: Iori Shimada, Ryoichi Imai, Yoshinori Hayasaki, Hiroshi Fukunaga, Nobuhide Takahashi, Toru Takatsuka
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2015-04-01
• Series: Catalysts
• Subjects: RFCC process; hydrogen transfer; isomerization; *BEA zeolite; MFI zeolite; octane number
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/5/2/703

In this study, multifunctional catalysts were developed by adding *BEA or MFI zeolite with high Si/Al ratio to a residual fluidized catalytic cracking (RFCC) catalyst and tested in the catalytic cracking of n-hexadecane, which is a heavy crude oil model compound, for the purpose of increasing the octane value of produced gasoline under the strong hydrogen transfer activity of the RFCC catalyst. Reaction products analysis revealed that the addition of *BEA zeolite to the RFCC catalyst increased the yields of olefins and multi-branched paraffins, which resulted in improvement of the octane value without sacrificing gasoline yield. On the contrary, the addition of MFI zeolite decreased the gasoline yield because it cracks the gasoline range olefins into LPG range olefins. In general, it is difficult to increase the yield of multi-branched molecules because the multi-branched molecule is more easily cracked than linear molecules. Our results suggest the possibility for the selective acceleration of isomerization reaction by the addition of less acidic *BEA zeolite to the RFCC catalyst.