Catalytic activity in individual cracking catalyst particles imaged throughout different life stages

Abstract

Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) is the major conversion process used in oil refineries to produce valuable hydrocarbons from crude oil fractions. Because the demand for oil-based products is ever increasing, research has been ongoing to improve the performance of FCC catalyst particles, which are complex mixtures of zeolite and binder materials. Unfortunately, there is limited insight into the distribution and activity of individual zeolitic domains at different life stages. Here we introduce a staining method to visualize the structure of zeolite particulates and other FCC components. Brønsted acidity maps have been constructed at the single particle level from fluorescence microscopy images. By applying a statistical methodology to a series of catalysts deactivated via industrial protocols, a correlation is established between Brønsted acidity and cracking activity. The generally applicable method has clear potential for catalyst diagnostics, as it determines intra- and interparticle Brønsted acidity distributions for industrial FCC materials. Insight into the active zeolitic domains of catalyst particles used in fluid catalytic cracking is limited by the particles' complex nature, but is crucial to improving these billion dollar catalysts. Now, a staining method allows confocal fluorescence microscopy to probe within single catalyst particles, and correlate Brønsted acidity distributions to catalytic activity.

Cite this article

Buurmans, I., Ruiz-Martínez, J., Knowles, W. et al. Catalytic activity in individual cracking catalyst particles imaged throughout different life stages by selective staining. Nature Chem 3, 862–867 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.1148

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