Abstract

Catalytic evaluation of sulfated zirconia pillared clay in n-hexane transformation

Author(s): D.Radwan, L.Saad, S.Mikhail, S.A.Selim

Sulfated zirconia pillared clay (SZ-PILC) was prepared by adding sulfates to zirconiumspecies before the pillaring process. The intercalated claywas then characterized byDTA, FTIR,X-ray diffraction and N2-adsorption techniques. It was found that, pillaring process using sulfated zirconia as intercalating agent gave rise to good thermal stability, significant increase in the main d-spacing values characterizing the bentonite clay from 12 Å to 15, 17and 19Å, and created dominant microporosity feature. The catalytic conversion of n-hexane was examined by both sulfated zirconia catalyst and sulfated zirconia pillared clay, using a flow system operating under atmospheric pressure and at reaction temperature range 180-300oC. Results indicated that, SZ-PILC ismore active than sulfated zirconia (SZ) catalyst in nhexane transformation. Themajor primary reactionwas isomerization, giving monobranched and dibranched isomers. Small amounts of cracked, cyclic and aromatic products were also observed.