Abstract
Polypropylene (PP) makes up a large share of our plastic waste. We investigated the conversion of PP over the industrial Fluid Catalytic Cracking catalyst (FCC-cat) used to produce gasoline from crude oil fractions. We studied transport limitations arising from the larger size of polymers compared to the crude oil-based feedstock by testing the components of this catalyst separately. Infrared spectroscopy and confocal fluorescence microscopy revealed the role of the FCC matrix in aromatization, and the zeolite Y domains in coking. An equilibrium catalyst (ECAT), discarded during FCC operation as waste, produced the same aromatics content as a fresh FCC-cat, while coking decreased significantly, likely due to the reduced accessibility and activity of the zeolite domains and an enhanced cracking activity of the matrix due to metal deposits present in ECAT. This mechanistic understanding provides handles for further improving the catalyst composition towards higher aromatics selectivity.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 16101-16108 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Angewandte Chemie-International Edition |
Volume | 60 |
Issue number | 29 |
Early online date | 11 May 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 12 Jul 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We acknowledge Prof. E. T. C. Vogt from Utrecht University (UU) and L. Baron from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), for insightful discussion. This work was supported by the Netherlands Center for Multiscale Catalytic Energy Conversion (MCEC), a NWO Gravitation program funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of the government of the Netherlands. This project has also received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sk?odowsk-Curie grant agreement No 801359.
Funding Information:
We acknowledge Prof. E. T. C. Vogt from Utrecht University (UU) and L. Baron from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), for insightful discussion. This work was supported by the Netherlands Center for Multiscale Catalytic Energy Conversion (MCEC), a NWO Gravitation program funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of the government of the Netherlands. This project has also received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowsk‐Curie grant agreement No 801359.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Angewandte Chemie International Edition published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
Keywords
- Aromatics
- coke formation
- fluid catalytic cracking
- plastic recycling
- polypropylene