Hydrocracking of hexadecane to jet fuel components over hierarchical Ru-modified faujasite zeolite

Abstract

Hexadecane hydrocracking was investigated over bifunctional Ru-containing micro- and mesoporous USY zeolites at 250 degrees C under 45 bar in the presence of hydrogen in a batch reactor. A comparative study was performed using the Ru-free zeolites in the protonic form. The highest yield of jet-fuel products, C-9 - C-15, being 26% at 71% conversion, was obtained with 2.5 wt% Ru deposited on a hierarchical micro-mesoporous USY zeolite, e.g. a material possessing secondary porosity, where a superior combination of acidity and mesoporosity was created by treatment of the parent zeolite with aqueous sodium hydroxide and tetrapropylammonium hydroxide.