Preparation and catalytic performance of a novel organometallic CoH/Hβ catalyst for n -hexane isomerization

As a novel alkane isomerization catalyst, namely CoH/Hβ, was prepared by the reduction of CoH(P(OPh) 3 ) 4 , which was pre-impregnated on Hβ as support. The as-prepared CoH/Hβ catalyst was structurally compared with CoH(P(OPh) 3 ) 4 , CoH(P(OPh) 3 ) 4 /Hβ via FT-IR, TPR, SEM, XRD and other techniques. The results show that the new organometallic hydride catalyst was synthesized successfully and exhibited excellent catalytic performance for the isomerization of n -hexane. For the best performance of the CoH/Hβ catalyst, the optimal catalytic reaction temperature, pressure, space velocity, and hydrogen/oil molar ratio were 300 °C, 2.0 MPa, 1.0 h −1 , and 4.0, respectively, in the isomerization process of n -hexane. Under the optimal reaction conditions, the conversion of n -hexane, the yield of isomerization, and the selectivity towards iso-paraffins were 80.2%, 63.0%, and 78.6%, respectively. This performance is mainly attributed to the new structure of Co–H hydride in the CoH/Hβ catalyst, which has strong hydrogenation/dehydrogenation activity in the isomerization of n -hexane.