Platinum on silica-alumina

The first metallic catalyst used for dehydrocyclization of alkanes (/) was platinum on carbon (10-40 w/w% metal). It is typically used around atmospheric pressure and temperatures not exceeding 300°C. Such catalysts are inadequate for praetical purposes. This is the reason for commercial dual-function catalysts—typically platinum on silica-alumina—having been developed 32). 

From this beginning, an extensive study of the isomerization of n-heptane was made with platinum on silica-alumina catalysts. Figure 2 shows curves plotted from the data obtained illustrating the total isomer yield versus conversion and the temperatures that produced these conversions. The conversion-isomer yield curve follows closely the 45° theoretical yield line, goes through a maximum at about 65% isomer yield, and then drops sharply because of cracking. The temperature at which the maximum yield of isomers was obtained was about 660° F. 

The high degree of dispersion of platinum on alumina has also been confirmed by the hydrogen chemisorption measurements of Keavney and Adler (Kl), and by the chemisorption studies of Gruber (G2). In addition, high dispersion of platinum on silica-alumina has been observed by Hughes and associates, using a carbon monoxide chemisorption technique (H10). 

C5- and C6- cyclizations are parallel reactions. Csicsery has shown that isomerization of tetralin to methylindan over platinum-alumina at 371°C is extremely slow (22). Davis and Venuto provided further evidence by showing that methylindan is also not converted to tetralin or naphthalene over platinum on silica-alumina (23). This behavior is similar to that observed in the cyclization of aliphatic hydrocarbons. Davis and Venuto also reported that the major aromatic products obtained from ten C8-C9 paraffins and olefins at 482°C are only formed by direct six-membered ring... 

Cyclization selectivities are very different over platinum on silica-alumina than over platinum on silica gel (Table IV). In the case of n-butylbenzene, for example, methylindan/naphthalene ratios differ by about an order of... 

These rate differences show that, over platinum on silica-alumina, two cyclization reactions occur simultaneously. One is catalyzed by the platinum metal it is the mechanism observed over platinum on silica. Acid catalyzed self-alkylation is the second reaction. The following steps are involved. 

About half of the 1-methylnaphthalene formed from n-pentylbenzene and 2-phenylpentane isomerizes to 2-methylnaphthalene over platinum on silica-alumina (while over platinum on silica less than 3% of the methylnaphthalene isomerizes to 2-methylnaphthalene). Alkylindan (and alkyl-indene) isomerization is also considerable over platinum on silica-alumina (13, 14). 

Platinum on alumina has properties between those of platinum on silica gel and platinum on silica-alumina. Only about one-fifth of the methylindan is produced by the acid-catalyzed route (13). Also, the isomerization of... 

This mechanistic interpretation is based on the assumption that, once formed, five- or six-membered products of dehydrocyclization do not undergo interconversion. As discussed above, isomerizations are extremely slow at 317°C for tetralin to methylindan and methylindan to tetralin over alumina, silica-alumina, platinum-on-alumina, and platinum-on-silica-alumina catalysts (22, 23). 

All side-chain isomers are formed in acid-catalyzed isomerization. Carbonium ions are the intermediates here. Over dual-function catalysts, such as platinum-on-alumina and platinum-on-silica-alumina, platinum increases the rate of isomerization by dehydrogenating alkanes to olefins. This facilitates the formation of carbonium ions. 

The relationship between the two catalytic components is quite complex. Interactions between the support and the hydrogenation component can alter this relationship. For example, Larson et- al. (6) showed that, with platinum on silica-alumina, a selective adsorption of platinum by acid sites causes a reduction in catalyst acidity. Similarly, nickel reacts with the acid sites on silica-alumina forming nickel salts of the silica-alumina acid sites. It has been suggested (J) that one of the effects of sulfiding a nickel on... 

In contrast, we shall see that in a paraflhi isomerization system a platinum on silica-alumina catalyst is a multifunctional, specifically, a hifunc-tional catalyst the platinum sites catalyze distinctly different reactions and reaction steps than do the silica-alumina sites neither catalyze the reactions of the other component furthermore, both tj ies of reactions are relevant to accomplish the over-all reactions of the desired conversion system. 

Figure 3. Products from hydrocracking n-hexadecane over platinum on silica alumina at 371°C, 69 atm, and 53% conversion...

By this time we were doing about as well as had been done previously with a molybdenum oxide alumina catalyst, but with considerably less carbon formation. So now things became more serious, but not serious enough to get people very excited about it. After all, we had been using a 3% platinum on silica catalyst, and even in those days 3% platinum was pretty expensive. Platinum on silica-alumina did much better with respect to octane number but we could not control the hydrocracking very well, so we switched to alumina which had an intermediate activity. The results looked pretty good, particularly because we could run for days without much loss in activity. 

Supported platinum. The STEM and TPD data for platinum supported on alumina and silica are summarized In Table I. The platlnum-slllca samples show a high degree of variability In size and mass. This variability Is Indicative of the mobility of platinum on silica at elevated temperatures, l.e., 500°C. These samples were of little... 

Pentafining A process for isomerizing pentane in a hydrogen atmosphere, using a platinum catalyst supported on silica-alumina. Developed by the Atlantic Richfield Company. 

In hydrocarbon reforming processes the vapour of an alkane is passed over a supported metal catalyst such as platinum on silica or alumina. Dehydrocyclization, isomerization and cracking reactions all take place to... 

The metal-catalysed hydrogenation of cyclopropane has been extensively studied. Although the reaction was first reported in 1907 [242], it was not until some 50 years later that the first kinetic studies were reported by Bond et al. [26,243—245] who used pumice-supported nickel, rhodium, palladium, iridium and platinum, by Hayes and Taylor [246] who used K20-promoted iron catalysts, and by Benson and Kwan [247] who used nickel on silica—alumina. From these studies, it was concluded that the behaviour of cyclopropane was intermediate between that of alkenes and alkanes. With iron and nickel catalysts, the initial rate law is... 

Over platinum-on-carbon catalyst at relatively low temperature (310°C), C5-cyclization of alkylbenzenes probably proceeds by direct closure of the ring between the carbon atoms of the side-chain and the benzene ring, bypassing dehydrogenation to olefins (25-27). However, at higher temperatures and on platinum-alumina or platinum-on-silica C5-dehydro-cyclization could involve olefinic intermediates (7,13, 28). 

Figure 11 shows conversion to iso-heptanes to be negligible for (0.5 wt. %) platinum supported on activated carbon (Pt/C) as the only catalyst, and also for (0.4 wt. %) platinum on silica-gel (Pt/Si02). No detectable conversion was obtained with silica-alumina. A mechanical mixture of either of the Pt-bearing particles with silica-alumina of about 150 m.Vg-surface area, both in millimeter diameter particle size (1000m), immediately resulted in appreciable isomerization ( SiAl with Pt/C SiAl with Pt/Si02). Isomerization increases rapidly for smaller component particle sizes, of 70/i and S i diameters. It approaches the performance of a silica-alumina that has been directly impregnated with platinum, and which has... 

Noble Metal Catalysts. The most frequently mentioned noble metal hydrocracking catalysts are platinum and palladium on silica-alumina. The unsulfided noble metal catalysts have high hydrogenation activity and lower acidity than the supported metal sulfides discussed previously. 

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