Pillared hydrothermally stable, preparation

Several attempts were made to prepare pillared smectites with sufficient hydrothermal stability for use as active components in catalysts for catalytic cracking of heavy oil fractions. Although improvements were made, none of the attempts resulted in pillared materials stable enough to withstand the hydrothermal conditions found in the regenerator of a commercial FCC. One type of materials studied, i.e. alumina-montmorillonites, may be attractive alternatives to the active matrices, often alumina, currently used in FCC-catalysts designed for cracking of heavy oils. The alumina-montmorillonites can, perhaps, not be considered to be bona fide pillared smectites as they have considerably larger pores and a wider pore-size distribution than what is characteristic for pillared smectites. 

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