Highly Versatile, Non‐noble Metal‐Based Catalytic Process for the Production of Green Aromatics and High‐Octane Fuel from Bio‐Derived Hydrocarbon Mix

Abstract

The present work deals with the value‐addition to bio‐derived hydrocarbon mix obtained as a side product in biorefinery for petrochemicals and fuel applications. One aspect of this study focused on developing a highly versatile, non‐noble metal‐based catalytic process to facilitate the production of green aromatics and high‐octane fuel from a renewable bio‐derived hydrocarbon mix. Considering the availability of various conventional/unconventional feedstocks viz. industrial petroleum naphtha and crude‐derived hydrocarbon mix, the catalyst development is also expanded for effective conversion of such feedstocks to produce aromatics. For this, a detailed understanding of the catalyst property‐activity relationship has been established with the help of characterization techniques like FTIR, XRD, NH3‐TPD, Pyridine‐IR, N2 adsorption‐desorption, HR‐TEM, XPS, TGA, etc. The studies revealed promising catalytic activity of 5Zn‐2Ga‐0.5Ba/H‐ZSM‐5 to exhibit very high aromatic selectivity (up to 80 %) and high‐octane fuel production (>100 RON) from all the feedstocks possessing different hydrocarbon composition. The catalyst showed good repeatability and recyclability at the tested reaction conditions.