Steam Cracking of Vacuum Gas Oil (VGO) on the Structured Hydrotalcite (Ni, Ce, Mg, Al) Monolithic Catalyst

Abstract

Performance of Mg-Al-Ni-Ce hydrotalcite (HT) catalyst over metallic monolith for steam cracking of VGO (Vacuum Gas Oil) has been evaluated. Hydrotalcite catalyst in form of powder has been synthesized and calcined at 450C and employed for preparing the slurry used for washcoating monolithic structures. Preparation procedure involves three main steps: a) preparation of metallic monoliths, b) preparation of stable slurry of catalyst (which includes solvent selection, viscosity, particle size and use of additives), c) dip-coating of monolithic supports. The quality of catalyst coatings was evaluated in terms of loading, homogeneity and adherence. Comparative test with the same catalyst in the powdered form was carried out at the same reaction condition. Simulation Distillation (Sim-Dis) and Gas Chromatography (GC) have been used to analyze liquid and gas products composition respectively. Further studies have been done to optimize the reaction conditions in order to obtain high conversion of VGO to light oil and gas products.