| dc.description.abstract | The Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) process has been used for over 75 years to convert
crude oil into smaller hydrocarbons like gasoline, propylene and LPG. In this process a
FCC catalyst is used composed of zeolite, alumina, silica and clay. Most of the research
done on this catalyst focuses on the main active component, zeolite Y. To be able to
rationally design the most active, selective and stable FCC catalyst, research on the effect
of changes in the binder was done. In the FCC process steam is present, and the effect
of steam on the catalysts with different binders is studied. The goal of this work is to
make an acidity-activity correlation by studying all of the single components individually
as well as combined.
Pyridine was used as a probe molecule to determine the acidity of the samples using
FT-IR and UV-Vis spectroscopy. Pyridine FT-IR spectroscopy is an established technique
to probe acidity as it distinguishes Lewis acid sites (LAS) from Bronsted acid sites
(BAS), as well as determines the strength of the acidic sites. While it also provides information
on the pyridine adsorbed in a physisorbed manner and pyridine adsorbed on
surface hydroxyl groups, it does not give information on the nature of these hydroxyl
groups. Recently, pyridine UV-Vis spectroscopy has shown to provide information on the
nature of hydroxyl groups present on the surface of solid acids. In this work, pyridine
UV-Vis spectroscopy will be used on a full catalyst set for the first time. | |
