ALKANE CRACKING REACTIONS IN ZEOLITES WITH COADSORBED METAL-HALIDES

HY which is loaded with SbF5, BCl3, or BF3 at low coverages one metal halide molecule per Bronsted acid site, is shown to be active in the i somerization and cracking of n-hexane and n-butane at room temperature . In contrast, NaY with the same metal halide loading shows greatly re duced activity under identical reaction conditions. The cracking react ion was repeated with DY in place of HY, demonstrating deuterium incor poration into the hexane isomer and light alkane products through inte raction with the Bronsted site. Flow reactor studies demonstrate that the conversion is not constant as a function of time on stream, going through an induction period, reaching a maximum, at around 400 s, and then decaying to similar to 1% after 1 h.