The hydrocracking of n-decane over bifunctional Ni-H3PW12O40/SiO2 catalysts

A series of bifunctional Ni-H3PW12O40/SiO2 catalysts for the hydrocracking of n-decane were designed and prepared. The evaluation results of the catalysts show that Ni-H3PW12O40/SiO2 catalysts possess a high activity for hydrocracking of n-decane and an excellent tolerance to the sulfur and nitrogen compounds in the feedstock. Under the reaction conditions: reaction temperature 300 °C; H2/n-decane volume ratio of 1500; total pressure of 2 Mpa and the LHSV 2 h−1, the conversion of n-decane over reduced 5%Ni-50%H3PW12O40/SiO2 catalysts is as high as 90%, the C5+ selectivity equal to 70%. In order to reveal the structure and nature of the catalysts, a number of characterizations including XRD, Raman, H2-TPD, NH3-TPD, XPS and FT-IR of pyridine adsorption were carried out. The characteristic results show that the high activity of the catalysts and high C5+ selectivity can be related to the unique structure of the H3PW12O40 and its suitable acidity.