“Alkylation of isobutane with butenes: Development of new catalysts”

B. O. DALLA COSTA; M.A. ULLA; C.A. QUERINI

Salamanca (España)

Congreso; IX EUROPACAT; 2009

Alkylation of isobutane with butenes is carried out using sulphuric or hydrofluoric acid as catalysts. However, because of its toxicity and handling problems it is necessary to replace them by solid catalysts. Materials like zeolites [1], heteropoliacids, sulfate-zirconia have been studied, but despite achieving good activity and selectivity with many of them, the rapid deactivation has prevented its implementation at industrial level. The characterization of coke deposits [2,3] and studies of regeneration of the catalysts [4,5] indicate that the deactivation of microporous materials occurs by poisoning of active sites and also by pore mouths blocking. In this work, mesoporous materials are studied to avoid diffusive problems and facilitate the regeneration. SBA-15 type silicas functionalized are compared with the Y zeolite exchanged with lanthanum and protons (LCH-Y). Different techniques are used for characterization of the fresh material and coke, like TPD of pyridine and butene, FTIR, XRD,TGA, and TPO of carbonaceous deposit.