Development of Ni/HTA/Hβ alkane isomerization catalyst with improved selectivity for multi branched isoalkanes

Abstract Isoalkanes are ideal gasoline components, and the isomerization reaction of light alkanes is the most effective way to increase the octane number of gasoline. Non-precious metal/zeolite catalysts are the mainstream bifunctional catalysts for alkane isomerization reactions, but there are still challenges in achieving high octane number components - multi branched isoalkanes in isomerization reactions. In this article, Ni-heteropoly acid/zeolite alkane isomerization catalyst (Ni-HTA/Hβ) was prepared by impregnation method. Under optimized conditions, the conversion rate of n-hexane was 80.7%, the yield of isoalkanes was 79.8%, and the selectivity of isoalkanes was as high as 98.9%. In the product distribution, the Ni-HTA/Hβ catalyst can obtain more multi branched isoalkanes, namely 2,2-dimethylbutane and 2,3-dimethylbutane, with a total content of up to 19.2%, achieving the goal of further improving the yield of double branched alkanes in C₆ alkane isomerization products.