Hydrogen spillover phenomenon in noble metal modified clay-based hydrocracking catalysts

Homemade clay-based catalysts and a commercial hydrocracking catalyst were evaluated for hydrocracking activity using vacuum gas oil (VGO) from Saudi Arabian light crude oil. The clay-based catalysts were prepared in our laboratories by cobalt loading and one of them was impregnated with a noble metal belonging to group VIII of the periodic table. The reactions were conducted in both flow and batch reaction system. The amount of saturates were found to increase while aromatics and polars were decreasing with the increase in conversion of feed to lighter products. The cracking activities of both clay-based catalysts were found better than the catalyst C (commercial). In the flow reactor, at 360 °C reaction temperature, the activity of catalyst A (having noble metal) was 2 times more than that of the catalyst B (without noble metal), while 2.5 times more than that of the commercial catalyst. Similarly, at 380 and 400 °C temperatures, the activity of catalyst A was 2 times more than that of the catalyst C and substantially higher than that of catalyst B. In the batch reactor, higher cracking and HDS activity were observed for catalyst A and more saturates were found in the reaction product as well. The amount of carbon deposited was found to be lower on the spent clay catalyst A. This study clearly shows that even in hydrocracking of VGO which contains complex hydrocarbons and substantial amounts of sulfur, nitrogen and metals, hydrogen spillover phenomena do occur.