Shape selection of alkane hydroisomerization over one-dimensional zeolite supported Pt catalyst: Pt/ZSM-48 versus Pt/ZSM-22

Hydroisomerization of long-chain n-alkanes plays a vital role in petrochemical and coal chemical industries, because it can produce high-quality hydrocarbon fuels and lubricant base oils. ZSM-48 (0.56 × 0.53 nm) and ZSM-22 (0.57 nm × 0.46 nm) are characteristic of one-dimensional 10-member ring zeolites suitable for n-alkanes hydroisomerization reaction. Here, the effect of the structure difference between ZSM-48 and ZSM-22 zeolites on hydroisomerization is titrated by the isobutane and n-dodecane. The product distribution of hydroisomerization of isobutane to n-butane shows the reaction pathway on Pt/ZSM-48 and Pt/ZSM-22, in which the monomolecular hydroisomerization of isobutane is involved within the active sites in zeolite channels, while the polymerization-cracking bimolecular reaction occurs on the pore-mouth of zeolite. Pt/ZSM-48 zeolite, possessing larger channel and aperture size than those of Pt/ZSM-22, is more conducive to the diffusion of butane molecules and bimolecular polymerization. Therefore, the isobutane conversion (14 %) on Pt/ZSM-48 produces less C1+C2 (1.7 wt% vs. 3.4 wt%) and more C3+C5+C8 (19.2 wt% vs. 16.9 wt%). For the hydroisomerization of n-dodecane, the iso-dodecane selectivity of Pt/ZSM-48 (43.3 wt%) is significantly higher than that of Pt/ZSM-22 (12.4 wt%) at the similar n-C12 conversion (40 %). Compare with the isomers of Pt/ZSM-22, the mono-branched isomers with methyl near the middle of the chains and multi-branched isomers are more easily formed on Pt/ZSM-48, which is conducive to the “key-lock” catalysis mechanism. The larger pore size of ZSM-48 is conducive to n-C12 insertion into zeolite pores, methyl migration and isomer diffusion, and its adjacent pores are more compatible with double-branched isomers. In addition, a high selectivity of C4∼C5 alkanes (53.2 wt%) on Pt/ZSM-22 and a high selectivity of C6∼C9 alkanes (44.7 wt%) on Pt/ZSM-48 show obvious difference in cracking product distribution, implying different position of methyl groups in i-C12 isomers on Pt/ZSM-22 and Pt/ZSM-48 samples, respectively. The present comparison between Pt/ZSM-48 and Pt/ZSM-22 benefits the selection and development of one-dimensional zeolitesupported metal catalyst in a wide range of hydro-processing reactions. Here, we demonstrate a process that hydroisomerization of isobutane and n-dodecane on Pt/ZSM-48 and Pt/ZSM-22 catalysts to investigate the shape selection of channel and pore size. The findings benefit the selection and developme