Systematic Study on preparation and Characterizations of High Performance Bimetallic Pt-Co/SBA-15 Catalyst in n-Heptane Isomerization

Bimetallic catalysts were prepared by deposition of 1% of loading of (Pt-Co) onto SBA 15 support using heterogeneous reaction for enhancing hydroisomerization and promoting hydrocracking for the decomposition of n-heptane. The catalytic performance of the catalysts was subsequently evaluated thereafter. Characterization of the prepared catalysts was done by various techniques, which include XRD, FTIR, BETBJH, SEM/EDS, and TEM. The temperature range studied for this catalytic activity was 250 to 400 °C, at atmospheric pressure in a plug-flow reactor. The experimental setup kept a very rigorous control over the temperature, flow rate for the reactants, and pressure, while gas chromatographic techniques served for analysis of the components exiting the reactor to determine product composition and concentration. Investigation results showed that the Pt-Co (1%)/SBA-15 catalyst was rather active and converted around 65% of all n-heptane presented in the reaction mixture. At the same time, the selectivity towards isomerization was not that high, which means much more detailed investigations and research are needed in this direction in the future to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the catalytic process.