CONVERSİON OF n-HEXANE OVER CATALYSTS BASED ON SULFATED ZIRCONIUM DIOXIDE

Abstract

The isomerization process is becoming increasingly important in the modern petroleum refining context due to the limitations on the content of benzene, aromatic compounds, and olefins in gasoline. Isomerization is an effective and profitable process for octane enhancement of gasoline unlike other octane increasing processes. Due to the low sulfur and benzene content, the isomerate can be used as an ideal blending gasoline component. Therefore, the isomerization process has a great importance in petroleum refineries to increase the fuel octane number. This article aimed to study the conversion process of normal hexane over palladium and platinum containing catalysts on the base of sulfated zirconium dioxide. It has been determined that due to their high-performance characteristics, catalytic systems based on sulfated zirconium dioxide can be considered the most promising for isomerization of normal alkanes. Moreover, comparison of palladium-containing catalysts based on sulfated zirconium dioxide with platinum-containing catalysts based on sulfated zirconium dioxide showed that palladium sulfated zirconia catalysts have high catalytic performance in the isomerization of normal hexane. Keywords: alkanes, catalyst, platinum, palladium, isomerization, temperature, sulfated zirconium dioxide. .