The effect of Pt concentration on the activity and selectivity of SO42−ZrO2 catalysts for the hydrocracking and hydroisomerization of n-hexadecane Original Research Article

The addition of Pt to promote the long-term activity of SO42−ZrO2 catalysts is showm to have a strong influence on the conversion of n-hexadecane. The maximum conversion occurs at the 0.6–1.0 wt.% Pt concentration range; increasing further the Pt concentration up to 5.0 wt.% does not increase the conversion of n-hexadecane. At a constant conversion, the selectivity for isomerization and cracking is the same for different levels of Pt. However, the carbon number distribution of the cracked products shows a small shift to higher carbon numbers with increasing Pt loadings.