Synthesis and Characterization of Heterogeneous catalyst for Hydrogenation of Benzene in Reformate Gasoline

A series of nickel catalyst for hydrogenation of benzene in reformate gasoline was synthesized and characterized by various techniques including XRD, FESEM, EDS-map and N2 adsorption-desorption. The evaluation was carried out in fixed bed reactor at 423-473 K under atmospheric pressure. Different mole ratios H2/HC and space velocities were investigated by means of optimum condition. The highest conversion of benzene in hydrogenation is achieved at low temperature. In low H2/HC molar ratio and space velocity, due to higher resident time, benzene molecules find a greater chance of competitive hydrogenation in reformate. Despite the decrease in benzene content, the octane number of the product does not change significantly.