Hydrocracking of bio-alkanes over Pt/Al-MCM-41 mesoporous molecular sieves for bio-jet fuel production

Abstract

Bi-functional catalysts consisting of platinum on aluminosilicate MCM-41 materials with Si/Al ratios between 10 and 30 were prepared via direct mixed-gel synthesis. The catalysts were tested in the hydrocracking of bio-alkanes, produced from biodiesel hydrodeoxygenation and composed of n-hexadecane and n-octadecane, for the production of bio-jet fuel. The effects of temperature, pressure, weight hourly space velocity (WHSV), and H2/n-paraffin weight ratio on bio-alkanes conversion and product distribution were examined. The conversion was found to be dependent on the acid strength of the catalyst supports which were proportional to the Al content. However, the catalyst selectivity decreased with the increasing Al content. The optimal Si/Al ratio, temperature, pressure, WHSV, and H2/n-paraffin weight ratio were determined to be 20, 330 °C, 2 MPa, 1 h−1, and 0.20, respectively. Under these conditions, the bio-alkanes conversion and kerosene/gasoline ratio in the product reached 65.62% and 1.96, respectively.