Mesoporous superacid catalysts for valorisation of refinery naphtha stream

In the current petroleum refining scenario, many refineries end up with surplus naphtha which is either absorbed into the gasoline pool or exported at unattractive prices. Therefore, several options for naphtha valorisation are currently being explored. The usage of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) as a fuel in heating appliances, cooking equipment and automobiles is rapidly increasing. The high specific calorific value, high octane number, clean and efficient combustion of LPG distinguish it as an extremely promising fuel of the future. In the current work, tungstophosphoric acid (TPA) supported on four different mesoporous silica supports were investigated as mesoporous superacids for hydroconversion of refinery naphtha using n-heptane as a model feedstock. The varied levels of interactions of prepared mesoporous silica with tungstophosphoric acid catalysts were observed to have a prominent effect on the strength of the acid sites generated on silica surfaces and as a result affected heptane hydroconversion activity and selectivity of isomerized and cracked products. Interestingly, activity could be tuned towards selective cracking or isomerization-cracking by selection of a suitable topology of mesoporous silica. Hexagonal Mesoporous Silica (HMS) and plugged SBA-15 supported TPA catalysts demonstrated high n-heptane conversion activity and isomerization selectivity whereas KIT-6 and SBA-15 supported TPA catalysts demonstrated high cracking selectivity to LPG.