Investigation of zeolite modification methods in n-hexane catalytic cracking process

Document Type : Review

Authors

1 M.Sc. Student, Faculty of Chemistry and Petroleum, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran

2 PhD. Professor, Faculty of Chemistry and Petroleum, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran

3 PhD. Assistant Professor, Catalyst Technology Development Division, Research Institute of Petroleum Industry, Tehran

4 PhD. Catalyst Technologies Development Division, Research Institute of Petroleum Industry, Tehran

Abstract

One of the main processes of producing light olefins is catalytic cracking. The commercial catalysts used in this process are zeolite catalysts. According to the operating conditions of the reaction, the used catalysts are deactivated after some time. One of the major challenges in this process is finding an optimal catalyst that, in addition to proper performance, has high selectivity over propylene. In order to reduce the penetration resistance of materials in zeolite micropores and easier access of materials to active sites and to create mesopores, numerous modifications were made using pre- and post-synthesis methods (synthesis of zeolite with special morphology, crystal size reduction, dealumination and desilication) has been done. These modifications have increased the lifetime and improved catalyst performance. In this research, the recent developments about zeolite catalysts and methods of improving the performance of ZSM-5 zeolite catalysts in the catalytic cracking process of normal hexane have been described.

Keywords


[1] M. Khanmohammadi, S. Amani, A. B. Garmarudi, and A. Niaei, “Methanol-to-propylene process: Pesrspective of the most important catalysts and their behavior,” Chinese J. Catal., vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 325–339, 2016.
[2]        J. Liang, Z. Liang, R. Zou, and Y. Zhao, “Heterogeneous catalysis in zeolites, mesoporous silica, and metal–organic frameworks,” Adv. Mater., vol. 29, no. 30, p. 1701139, 2017.
[3]        V. A. Mendiola, “Post-synthesis modification of zeolite Y: a study of dealumination and realumination.” 2018.
[4]        J. Luo, B. V Bhaskar, Y.-H. Yeh, and R. J. Gorte, “n-Hexane cracking at high pressures on H-ZSM-5, H-BEA, H-MOR, and USY for endothermic reforming,” Appl. Catal. A Gen., vol. 478, pp. 228–233, 2014.
[5]        M. R. Sakha, S. Soltanali, D. Salari, M. Rashidzadeh, and P. H. Tabrizi, “Synergistic effect of micro-meso-macroporous system and structural Al amount of ZSM-5 for intensification of light olefins production in n-hexane cracking,” J. Solid State Chem., vol. 301, p. 122342, 2021.
[6]        S. Abello, A. Bonilla, and J. Perez-Ramirez, “Mesoporous ZSM-5 zeolite catalysts prepared by desilication with organic hydroxides and comparison with NaOH leaching,” Appl. Catal. A Gen., vol. 364, no. 1–2, pp. 191–198, 2009.
[7]        J. Ahmadpour and M. Taghizadeh, “Catalytic conversion of methanol to propylene over high-silica mesoporous ZSM-5 zeolites prepared by different combinations of mesogenous templates,” J. Nat. Gas Sci. Eng., vol. 23, pp. 184–194, 2015.
[8]        C. Mei, Z. Liu, P. Wen, Z. Xie, W. Hua, and Z. Gao, “Regular HZSM-5 microboxes prepared via a mild alkaline treatment,” J. Mater. Chem., vol. 18, no. 29, pp. 3496–3500, 2008.
[9]        D. P. Gamliel, H. J. Cho, W. Fan, and J. A. Valla, “On the effectiveness of tailored mesoporous MFI zeolites for biomass catalytic fast pyrolysis,” Appl. Catal. A Gen., vol. 522, pp. 109–119, 2016.
[10]      X. Dong et al., “Fine tuning the diffusion length in hierarchical ZSM-5 to maximize the yield of propylene in catalytic cracking of hydrocarbons,” ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng., vol. 6, no. 11, pp. 15832–15840, 2018.
[11]      R. Chal, C. Gerardin, M. Bulut, and S. van Donk, “Overview and industrial assessment of synthesis strategies towards zeolites with mesopores,” ChemCatChem, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 67–81, 2011.
[12]      S. Mintova, M. Jaber, and V. Valtchev, “Nanosized microporous crystals: emerging applications,” Chem. Soc. Rev., vol. 44, no. 20, pp. 7207–7233, 2015.
[13] J. Pérez-Ramírez, C. H. Christensen, K. Egeblad, C. H. Christensen, and J. C. Groen, “Hierarchical zeolites: enhanced utilisation of microporous crystals in catalysis by advances in materials design,” Chem. Soc. Rev., vol. 37, no. 11, pp. 2530–2542, 2008.
[14] M. Choi, K. Na, J. Kim, Y. Sakamoto, O. Terasaki, and R. Ryoo, “Stable single-unit-cell nanosheets of zeolite MFI as active and long-lived catalysts,” Nature, vol. 461, no. 7261, pp. 246–249, 2009.
[15]      H. Karami, M. Kazemeini, S. Soltanali, and M. Rashidzadeh, “Influence of adding a modified zeolite-Y onto the NiMo/Al2O3 catalyst utilized to produce a diesel fuel with highly reduced sulfur content,” Microporous Mesoporous Mater., vol. 332, p. 111704, 2022.
[16]      L. Tosheva and V. P. Valtchev, “Nanozeolites: synthesis, crystallization mechanism, and applications,” Chem. Mater., vol. 17, no. 10, pp. 2494–2513, 2005.
[17]      S. M. Alipour, R. Halladj, and S. Askari, “Effects of the different synthetic parameters on the crystallinity and crystal size of nanosized ZSM-5 zeolite,” Rev. Chem. Eng., vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 289–322, 2014.
[18]      S. Xu, X. Zhang, D. Cheng, F. Chen, and X. Ren, “Effect of hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolite crystal size on diffusion and catalytic performance of n-heptane cracking,” Front. Chem. Sci. Eng., vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 780–789, 2018.
[19]      H. Konno, T. Okamura, T. Kawahara, Y. Nakasaka, T. Tago, and T. Masuda, “Kinetics of n-hexane cracking over ZSM-5 zeolites–effect of crystal size on effectiveness factor and catalyst lifetime,” Chem. Eng. J., vol. 207, pp. 490–496, 2012.
[20]      B. Siddiqui, A. M. Aitani, M. R. Saeed, and S. Al-Khattaf, “Enhancing the production of light olefins by catalytic cracking of FCC naphtha over mesoporous ZSM-5 catalyst,” Top. Catal., vol. 53, no. 19, pp. 1387–1393, 2010.
[21]      T. Takaishi, M. Kato, and K. Itabashi, “Determination of the ordered distribution of aluminum atoms in a zeolitic framework. Part II,” Zeolites, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 21–32, 1995.
[22]      H. Karami, M. Kazemeini, S. Soltanali, and M. Rashidzadeh, “The effect of acid treatment and calcination on the modification of zeolite X in diesel fuel hydrodesulphurization,” Can. J. Chem. Eng..
[23]      V. Babic, “Increasing the porosity of zeolites.” Normandie Université, 2021.
[24]      M. S. Holm, E. Taarning, K. Egeblad, and C. H. Christensen, “Catalysis with hierarchical zeolites,” Catal. Today, vol. 168, no. 1, pp. 3–16, 2011.
[25]      X. Jia, W. Khan, Z. Wu, J. Choi, and A. C. K. Yip, “Modern synthesis strategies for hierarchical zeolites: Bottom-up versus top-down strategies,” Adv. Powder Technol., vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 467–484, 2019.
[26]      R. M. Barrer and M. B. Makki, “Molecular sieve sorbents from clinoptilolite,” Can. J. Chem., vol. 42, no. 6, pp. 1481–1487, 1964.
[27]      G. A. Nasser et al., “Cracking of n-hexane over hierarchical MOR zeolites derived from natural minerals,” J. Taiwan Inst. Chem. Eng., vol. 61, pp. 20–25, 2016.
[28]      J. C. Groen, J. A. Moulijn, and J. Pérez-Ramírez, “Desilication: on the controlled generation of mesoporosity in MFI zeolites,” J. Mater. Chem., vol. 16, no. 22, pp. 2121–2131, 2006.
[29]      W. Wan, T. Fu, R. Qi, J. Shao, and Z. Li, “Coeffect of Na+ and Tetrapropylammonium (TPA+) in alkali treatment on the fabrication of mesoporous ZSM-5 catalyst for methanol-to-hydrocarbons reactions,” Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., vol. 55, no. 51, pp. 13040–13049, 2016.
[30]      D. Wang, L. Zhang, L. Chen, H. Wu, and P. Wu, “Postsynthesis of mesoporous ZSM-5 zeolite by piperidine-assisted desilication and its superior catalytic properties in hydrocarbon cracking,” J. Mater. Chem. A, vol. 3, no. 7, pp. 3511–3521, 2015.
[31]      E. Yuan, Z. Tang, Z. Mo, and G. Lu, “A new method to construct hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolites with excellent catalytic activity,” J. Porous Mater., vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 957–965, 2014.
[32]      Y. Wang, T. Yokoi, S. Namba, and T. Tatsumi, “Effects of dealumination and desilication of beta zeolite on catalytic performance in n-hexane cracking,” Catalysts, vol. 6, no. 1, p. 8, 2016.
[33]      A. Feng, Y. Yu, L. Mi, Y. Cao, Y. Yu, and L. Song, “Synthesis and characterization of hierarchical Y zeolites using NH4HF2 as dealumination agent,” Microporous Mesoporous Mater., vol. 280, pp. 211–218, 2019.
[34]      Y. Ji, H. Yang, and W. Yan, “Catalytic cracking of n-hexane to light alkene over ZSM-5 zeolite: Influence of hierarchical porosity and acid property,” Mol. Catal., vol. 448, pp. 91–99, 2018.
[35]      S. Inagaki et al., “Facile fabrication of ZSM-5 zeolite catalyst with high durability to coke formation during catalytic cracking of paraffins,” ACS Catal., vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 74–78, 2013.