Activity study of the MOFs-supported Ni catalysts in the benzene elimination

The selective hydrogenation of C-C multiple bonds is an effective method to reduce the benzene in gasoline in accordance to the environmental regulations and aromatics important role in the octane number of fuels. One of the most important points in reducing benzene from gasoline is that the used method has the least effect on other aromatic compounds in order to prevent the loss of fuel octane number. Accordingly, it is important to provide a catalyst that can selectively remove and reduce the target compound (benzene) from the reaction mixture [1-3]. Nickel nanoparticles supported on MOFs (MOF-5 and MIL-101) were prepared by wet impregnation method. The results of the characterization techniques such as powder X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared and Uv-visible diffuse reflectance were used to establish a relationship between the obtained structural properties and the catalytic activity in the selective hydrogenation of benzene at 130–190 oC and ambient pressure. A mixture containing the aromatic hydrocarbons (6 vol% of benzene and 8 vol% of toluene dissolved in an excess of liquid n-heptane) was used as feed model and the tests were conducted in the fixed-bed microreactor. Catalytic data’s and evaluating the performance of these nano catalysts present that the best activity ( 98%) and good selectivity ( 52%) were obtained for Ni/MOF-5 catalyst at 130 °C.