Steam Catalytic Cracking of Vacuum bottom over Al2O3-ZrO2-CeO2/Fe2O3 Catalysts: Effect of aging time on textural properties of catalysts

A series of Fe2O3(83%)-ZrO2(7.5%)-Al2O3(7%)-CeO2(2.5%) catalysts were synthesized with co-precipitation method in different aging times (0 to 6 hours) using the metal nitrate precursors. Physicochemical properties of the prepared catalysts characterized with X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), EDX, Nitrogen Adsorption-Desorption, Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and H2-Temperature programmed reduction (H2-TPR) analyses. The catalytic performance of the synthesized catalysts was also evaluated by the steam catalytic cracking of the Vacuum bottom (VB). The results showed that increasing the aging time improved the textural properties of the catalysts in the oxygen adsorption capacity from steam, as well as the control of the catalyst surface area to produce a higher quality liquid product. When Cat-6 (catalyst with aging time of 6 h) was used as the catalyst, the yield of gasoline cut (boiling point range 27-225 ), diesel cut (boiling point range 200-320 ) and VGO cut (boiling point range 320-450 ) production was 25.3 mass %, 47.7 mass % and 33.8 mass %, respectively. Furthermore, Cat-6 showed higher performance in the partial oxidation of VB.