Influence of sulfating method on La–Ni–S2O82–/ZrO2–Al2O3 solid superacid catalyst for n-pentane isomerization

La–Ni–S2O82–/ZrO2–Al2O3 catalysts were successfully prepared by two different methods of sulfate impregnation, and the physico-chemical properties of the catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, pyridine adsorption–infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy techniques. Catalytic activities were evaluated in a fixed-bed flow reactor using n-pentane isomerization as the probe reaction. Compared with catalyst La–Ni–S2O82–/ZrO2–Al2O3-I, prepared by the traditional impregnation method, the catalyst La–Ni–S2O82–/ZrO2–Al2O3-W, prepared by the incipient-wetness impregnation method, possessed higher pore volume, pore size, sulfur content, and stronger Brønsted acid sites. The catalytic activity for La–Ni–S2O82–/ZrO2–Al2O3-W was maintained at around 56% within 3000 min with an isopentane selectivity of 88% which showed much greater stability than that of La–Ni–S2O82–/ZrO2–Al2O3-I. This can be attributed to the fact that (1) the large pore size and pore volume of La–Ni–S2O82–/ZrO2–Al2O3-W can largely suppress carbon deposition and (2) the more numerous and stronger Brønsted acid sites for La–Ni–S2O82–/ZrO2–Al2O3-W guaranteed to provide enough acid sites for isomerization during the reaction process.