Improvement of cetane number of LGO by ring opening of naphthenes on Pt/Al-SBA-15 catalysts

Rhodium-Based Catalysts: An Impact of the Support Nature on the Catalytic Cyclohexane Ring Opening

Because of the growing demand for high-quality fuels, the light cycle oil fraction improvement including cetane number improvement is important. The main way to reach this improvement is the ring opening of cyclic hydrocarbons, and a highly effective catalyst should be found. Cyclohexane ring openings are a possible option to investigate the catalyst activity. In this work, we investigated rhodium-loaded catalysts prepared using the commercially available industrial supports: single-component ones, SiO₂ and Al₂O₃; and mixed oxides CaO + MgO + Al₂O₃ and Na₂O + SiO₂ + Al₂O₃. The catalysts were prepared by incipient wetness impregnation and investigated by N₂ low-temperature adsorption-desorption, XRD, XPS, DRS UV-Vis and DRIFT spectroscopy, SEM, and TEM with EDX. The catalytic tests were performed in cyclohexane ring opening in the range of 275-325 °C. The best result was demonstrated by the sample 1Rh/CaMgAlO: the selectivity to n-hexane was about 75% while the cyclohexane conversion was about 25% at 275 °C. The space-time yield was up to 12 mmol_n-hexane g_cat^-1h^-1.

SBA-15 Mesoporous Silica as Catalytic Support for Hydrodesulfurization Catalysts-Review

SBA-15 is an interesting mesoporous silica material having highly ordered nanopores and a large surface area, which is widely employed as catalyst supports, absorbents, drug delivery materials, etc. Since it has a lack of functionality, heteroatoms and organic functional groups have been incorporated by direct or post-synthesis methods in order to modify their functionality. The aim of this article is to review the state-of-the-art related to the use of SBA-15-based mesoporous systems as supports for hydrodesulfurization (HDS) catalysts.