The latest issue of the journal Applied Catalysis B: Environmental features a paper by members of the Zeolites Chemistry Group Dr Karolina Tarach and Prof. Kinga Góra-Marek. The paper, entitled Hierarchical zeolites TNU-9 and IM-5 as the catalysts for cracking processes, is a result of collaboration with the Technical University of Valencia.
As summarised in the abstract of the paper, ‘the 10-ring zeolites TNU-9 and IM-5 were obtained by a desilication and evaluated in series of acid-catalysed cracking reactions. n>-Decane and 1,3,5-tri-iso-propylbenzene cracking were performed as model reactions, while vacuum gas oil, polypropylene and polyethylene were cracked into add-value lower molecular weight chemicals. The catalytic performance improvement of hierarchical zeolites was rationalized by deep acid sites characterization in situ FT-IR studies of pyridine, carbon monoxide and 2,6-di-tert-butylpyridine sorption. Further, operando FT-IR-GC studies supported by 2D COS (two-dimensional correlation) analysis provided insight into cracking and coking of catalysts during polypropylene and polyethylene decomposition. It was found that NaOH-derived catalysts ensure the most upsurged acidity, in terms of number and accessibility of the sites, and then with better performance. In VGO cracking the connected mesopores added post-synthesis increased yields to propylene and middle distillates and lowered coke production. A bigger share of iso-olefins was observed both in VGO and polyolefins cracking products’.
The full version of the paper is available at sciencedirect.com.
