Kinetics of <i>n</i>-Decane Cracking at Very Short Times on Stream

The kinetics of n-decane cracking on USY and Beta zeolites has been studied by measuring instantaneous conversions from very short times on stream (TOS). Data at short TOS were seen to be crucial to obtain reliable kinetic parameters, especially when catalyst deactivation is fast. Different kinetic and decay models have been used to fit the experimental results. For both catalysts, the best fitting was obtained using a simple first-order kinetic model coupled with a dependent decay expression which considers cracking products as responsible for catalyst deactivation. On these bases, it has been shown that Beta zeolite is more active and decays slower than USY for cracking of n-decane.