Interaction between Ni and HZSM-5 in aromatization-enhanced reactive adsorption desulfurization catalysts for FCC gasoline upgrading

A compound catalyst (RA) consisted of Ni, ZnO and HZSM-5 with functions of reactive adsorption desulfurization (RADS) and olefin aromatization for fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) gasoline upgrading was prepared. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), temperature-programmed reduction and low-temperature N₂ adsorption were used to characterize the properties of the catalysts. Performance evaluation by FCC gasoline was carried out, and the result showed that the catalyst RA performed well in desulfurization and aromatization. For comparison, RADS catalyst (represented by DS) consisted of Ni and ZnO and aromatization catalyst (represented by Ar) consisted of HZSM-5 were prepared, respectively. They were combined in different ways to help investigating interaction between Ni and HZSM-5. Performance evaluated by FCC gasoline showed that catalyst RA performed best in desulfurization with a slight octane number loss. Interaction between Ni and HZSM-5 is a significant factor which influences the performance of the catalyst.