HYDROCRACKING-HYDROISOMERIZATION OF N-DECANE ON AMORPHOUS SILICA-ALUMINA WITH UNIFORM PORE DIAMETER

The properties of a bi-functional catalyst based on a new amorphous me soporous silica-alumina (MSA) exhibiting a very narrow pore size distr ibution has been studied for the n-decane hydroisomerization-hydrocrac king reaction. The hydrogenation-dehydrogenation function has been pro vided by supporting platinum on the MSA surface. The amount and the di spersion of platinum in Pt/MSA catalysts were optimized to provide pur e bi-functional behavior. The activity of final catalysts was compared with that of a commercial silica-alumina (Crossfield) and three USY z eolites (PQ Corp.) having different framework Si/Al ratios. The observ ed differences have been discussed and hypothesis based on differences in acid properties and porosity have been proposed in this paper, A s tudy of the product distribution based on different criteria used in t he n-decane reaction test allowed to exclude the presence of ZSM-5 dom ains in the structure of the precursor MSA mesoporous material.