Synthesis of SO /Zr-silicalite-1 zeolite catalysts for upgrading and visbreaking of heavy oil.

Su, Lu; Guan, Zhongjie; Li, Qiuye; Li, Chen; Wang, Xiaodong; Li, Xiaohong; Yang, Jianjun; Zhang, Zhijun

Catalyst is crucially important to reduce the viscosity of heavy oil during the catalytic aquathermolysis. SO -modified ZrO-based nanoparticle catalyst is a commonly used catalyst. But less acid sites and poor hydrothermal stability limited further improving its catalytic performance and practical application. In this study, the Zr -doped silicalite zeolite catalysts with large surface area were prepared as a support matrix, and SO -modified Zr-doped silicalite zeolite (denoted as SO /Zr-silicalite-1 zeolite) was used as a solid superacid catalyst to crack the heavy oil. A reference catalyst of SO /Zr-SiO nanoparticles (NPs) was also prepared, which has the same composition with the SO /Zr-silicalite-1 zeolite catalyst. Compared with the SO /Zr-SiO NP catalyst, the amount of acid sites for the SO /Zr-silicalite-1 zeolite catalyst is significantly increased and the viscosity reduction efficiency is also enhanced by 40%. More importantly, the SO /Zr-silicalite-1 zeolite catalyst exhibits a high hydrothermal stability. After catalytic aquathermolysis, the quality of the heavy oil was also ameliorated. The heavy resins and asphaltenes reduced, while the light saturated and aromatic hydrocarbon increased. The results suggest metal element-doped silicalite zeolite catalyst is a potential useful way to solving the less acid sites and poor hydrothermal stability for the SO -modified nanoparticle catalyst.

SILICALITE; ZEOLITE catalysts; HEAVY oil; INORGANIC synthesis; THERMOLYSIS

Journal of Nanoparticle Research, 2017, Vol 19, Issue 9, p1

1388-0764

Academic Journal

10.1007/s11051-017-4002-8