Catalytic Hydroisomerisation of Fischer–Tropsch Waxes to Lubricating Oil and Investigation of the Correlation between Its Physical Properties and the Chemical Composition of the Corresponding Fuel Fractions

Due to environmental concerns, the role of renewable sources for petroleum-based products has become an invaluable research topic. One possibility of achieving this goal is the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) based on sustainable raw materials. Those materials include, but are not limited to, synthesis gas from biomass gasification or hydrogen through electrolysis powered by renewable electricity. In recent years, the utilisation of CO2 as carbon source for FTS was one main R&D topic. This is one of the reasons for its increase in value and the removal of its label as being just exhaust gas. With the heavy product fraction of FTS, referred to as Fischer–Tropsch waxes (FTW), being rather limited in their application, catalytic upgrading can help to increase the economic viability of such a process by converting the waxes to high value transportation fuels and lubricating oils. In this paper, the dewaxing of FTW via hydroisomerisation and hydrocracking was investigated. A three phase fixed bed reactor was used in combination with a zeolitic catalyst with an AEL (SAPO-11) structure and 0.3 wt% platinum (Pt). The desired products were high quality white oils with low cloud points. These products were successfully produced in a one-step catalytic dewaxing process. Within this work, a direct correlation between the physical properties of the white oils and the chemical composition of the simultaneously produced fuel fractions could be established.

Participation of methane in an economically and environmentally favorable catalytic asphaltene upgrading process

Methane presence notably facilitates the conversion of low-cost asphaltene into valuable light fractions including diesel and medium distillate with better quality over metal modified zeolitic catalyst.

Case Studies for Clean Technology Development in the Chemical Industry Using Zeolite Based Catalysts

This paper deals with the practical implementation of cleaner technologies in the chemical industry, using two case studies as an illustration. The first case study deals with the removal of NOx and N2O gases over an iron-doped ZSM-5 catalyst developed for tail gas treatment in nitric acid manufacturing. The aim for this case study was to investigate the efficiency of the zeolitic catalyst in the DeNOx process and to compare its catalytic activity with the conventional vanadia-titania. By the experiments carried out, it can be concluded that the new technological developments could significantly contribute to a decrease in environmental pollution. The second case study focuses on zeolite-based catalysts prepared from zeolitic tuff by the impregnation method, for biodiesel production from waste sunflower vegetable oil. The effects of operating and processing variables such as reaction temperature and time were investigated. The results showed that the highest biodiesel yield was 96.7% at an 11.5 MeOH/oil molar ratio, in the presence of 6.4 wt % catalyst at a 50 °C reaction temperature and reaction time of 2 h. The properties of the biodiesel that was produced, such as the viscosity, meet the required specifications of standard JUS EN14214. The common feature of the two different case studies is that both technologies use zeolite catalysts, namely naturally-occurring zeolitic tuff and synthetic ZSM type zeolite catalyst. The examples shown emphasize the importance of the zeolites in clean chemical technologies, which contribute to the protection of the environment.

New insights into catalyst deactivation and product distribution of zeolites in the methanol-to-hydrocarbons (MTH) reaction with methanol and dimethyl ether feeds

The ability of a zeolitic catalyst to dehydrate methanol to dimethyl ether affects catalyst deactivation and product distribution during the methanol-to-hydrocarbons (MTH) reaction.

Studies on the Catalytic Cracking of Different Gas Oils for Maximizing Propylene

The effects of feedstock’s properties on the propylene yield of catalytic cracking were investigated in a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) pilot scale riser test unit operating with a circulating catalyst. Under simulated conditions, the results of catalytic cracking with four different gas oils (including two kinds of vacuum gas oil (VGO) and two kinds of coker gas oil (CGO)) show that the yield of propylene is increasing with the ascending hydrogen content of feed. When the hydrogen content is almost the same, propylene yield fed with paraffinic-base VGO is higher than that fed with intermediate-base or naphthenic-base VGO. The lowest yield is fed with CGO because of the more nitrogen compounds, which can poison the acid sites of the zeolitic catalyst.