Hydroformylation for reducing the olefin content in the FCC light gasoline with magnetic rhodium-catalysts

Abstract The hydroformylation process was conducted on FCC light gasoline in which the total olefin content was 45.17% to reduce the olefin content, without losing its octane number. Under the catalysis of the popular Rh(acac)(CO)2 (acac = acetylacetonate) together with triphenylphosphine (TPP), the olefins, though most were internal and branched, were largely transformed to aldehydes at mild conditions without additional solvents. The gasoline octane number was also improved obviously, which confirmed that hydroformylation is a feasible route to upgrade the gasoline. In consideration of the separating advantage of magnetic particles, four magnetic catalysts, Fe3O4@Rh, Fe3O4@Rh@SiO2, Fe3O4@SiO2-NH2-Rh and Fe3O4@SiO2-NH2-Rh@SiO2, were prepared and characterized. Their catalytic abilities for hydroformylation of FCC light gasoline were studied based on the optimized reaction conditions with Rh(acac)(CO)2. The results showed that all the magnetic catalysts had a good performance, but those with a second SiO2 layer exhibited a better stability.