Comparison of the activity, selectivity and decay properties of lay and hyultrastable zeolites during the cracking of alkanes

The cracking of n-heptane on LaY ultrastable zeolite has been studied in a continuous glass flow reactor, at atmospheric pressure, up to 470°C. The initial selectivity to cracking, isomerization and disproportionation, kinetic rate constants, activation energies and decay parameters have been calculated and compared with those obtained using a HY ultrastable zeolite as a catalyst. It has been found that the HY ultrastable zeolite is about 7 times more active for cracking, and about 10 times more active for isomerization and disproportionation than the LaY ultrastable zeolite. The protolytic to β-cracking ratio is higher for the HY ultrastable zeolite. The deactivation takes place by both a chemical poisoning of the active sites (second order) and by pore blocking, the decay by pore blocking being higher for the LaY ultrastable zeolite.