A facile synthesis of hierarchical Nanosized zeolite Beta and its application in direct crude oil hydrocracking
Faisal M. Alotaibi, Lianhui Ding, Husin Sitepu, Qasim Saleem, Donya A. Alsewdan, Anaam Shaikh Ali, Sakinah I. Bin Hamad, Meshary H. Alotaibi, Mohammad F. Aljishi
Abstract
This study focuses on the synthesis of hierarchical nano-sized beta zeolites that exhibit enhanced catalytic properties through zeolite particle size reduction (to <80 nm) and the introduction of mesopores inside and between particles to improve diffusion of large molecules. The zeolites were produced by desilication and with template-including nano-sized beta as starting material. The samples were characterized by BET, XRD, XRF, solid-state NMR, TG-DTA, and NH3-TPD. Our method uses a shortened synthesis process to yield zeolites with higher surface area, pore volume (>1.0 ml/g), and stronger acidity that those developed by other methods. The zeolite reaction performances were evaluated in crude oil hydrocracking under commercial hydrocracker operating conditions in a pilot plant unit. The testing results showed that the catalyst including the hierarchical nanosized zeolite beta had much higher heavy oil conversion activity and naphtha selectivity.