On the influence of the mordenite acidity in the hydroconversion of linear alkanes over Pt-mordenite catalysts Original Research Article

Hydroconversion of n-octane and n-hexane was investigated on a series of platinum loaded mordenite samples with varied framework aluminium (FAl) content. In agreement with previous authors, it was observed that the rate of hydroconversion is first increased almost linearly with the number of FAl per unit cell, reached a maximum then decreased abruptly as the number of the FAl/unit cell is increased. Using dealuminaled and directly synthesised mordenite samples with very close FAl contents we reached the conclusion that the variation of the catalytic activity should neither be related to variation of the acid strength nor to changes in diffusion limitation but rather to the ability of the mordenite samples to favour adsorption of the paraffin.