Treated fly ash: A potential catalyst for catalytic cracking

Fly ash from a Thermal Power Plant was converted to zeolite by alkali fusion followed by hydrothermal treatment. The formation of zeolite was confirmed by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The performance of the prepared zeolite as cracking catalyst was tested by carrying out cracking of a heavy crude residue. Cracking of the same feed was also carried out with raw (untreated) fly ash and commercial 13X zeolite. At 11 wt% catalyst loading, temperature 380 deg C and atmospheric pressure, the feed conversions to lighter products (bp < or = 250 deg C) obtained were 35.6%, 58% and 58% with raw fly ash, treated fly ash and commercial zeolite, respectively, as the catalyst.