SYNTHESIS OF FAUJASITE ZEOLITE AND IRON OXIDE AS A CATALYST FOR UPGRADING HEAVY OIL

• Main Author: AFIFAH ZEN (NIM: 20216046), NUR
• Format: Theses
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/29759
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Faujasite-type zeolite and iron oxide as a catalyst to upgrading heavy oil in an aquathermolysis reaction has been successfully synthesized. Faujasite-type zeolite was synthesized by microwave-assisted thermal reaction with different aging time, varied from 0, 3, 5, 7, 21 and 28 days. The iron oxide synthesized by co-precipitation method at 27 °C. The X-ray Diffraction (XRD) caharcterization shows that faujasite-type zeolite crystal grew after 5 day aging time and has the same crystallinity at 7, 14 and 28 days. The chemical bonds present in zeolite faujasite are characterized using Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR). FTIR zeolite faujasite results show that aging time affects Si-O, Al-O, Al-O-Si and Si-OH bonds. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) results show that aging time has an effect on crystal structure and zeolite particle size. Zeolite samples with 7 day aging time had the smallest average particle size of 37,7 nm. The Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) characterization results show that zeolite samples with 7 days aging time have the largest specific surface area of 304 m2/g. The smaller the particle size will cause the larger surface area of the catalyst. Catalytic analyses using aquathermolysis process shows that the viscosity of the heavy oil decreased as much of 81,5%. The FTIR spectra indicates that zeolite with 7 days aging time as a catalyst <br /> <br /> addition affected the C-O, C-C and C-S primary hydrocarbon chains cracking and increased the C-H saturation. Based on these results, faujasite-type zeolite and iron oxide can increase the quality of heavy oil.