DEVELOPMENT OF ACTIVE MATRIX FOR FLUID CATALYTIC CRACKING CATALYST

• Main Author: Oktaviandy Anggaswara, Rezky
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Teknik (Rekayasa, enjinering dan kegiatan berkaitan)
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/73807
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Indonesia consumes large amounts of gasoline and diesel that are mainly produced from the cracking process of heavy petroleum called fluid catalytic cracking (FCC). The FCC process requires a catalyst consisting of zeolite, active matrix, filler, and binder. Currently, the crude oil feed available for the FCC processing becomes heavier, so an active matrix with mesoporous structure is needed as an initial cracker. A commonly used type of active matrix is silica-alumina-based mesoporous material that can be synthesized from kaolin which is abundant in Indonesia. Hence, the process of synthesizing active matrix from kaolin needs to be developed so that Indonesia can make superior FCC catalysts independently. This research was conducted to study the effect of hydrothermal heating temperature and time on the characteristics and performance of the active matrix. The active matrix was synthesized using the hydrothermal method by modifying the mesoporous material synthesis recipe in the research of Qoniah et al. (2015) and changing the raw material to metakaolin. The synthesis of the active matrix was carried out with hydrothermal temperature variations of 80-110 °C and hydrothermal time of 12-48 hours. Its Si/Al ratio was analyzed by x-ray fluorescence, surface characteristic and pore distribution were analyzed by N2-physisorption, crystallinity was analyzed by x-ray diffraction, and acidity was analyzed by NH3-chemisorption. Performance testing for VGO (vacuum gas oil) cracking process was carried out by MAT (microactivity test). The cracking products were analyzed using gas chromatography and thermogravimetry method. The study showed that increasing the hydrothermal temperature decreased surface area, pore volume, average pore diameter, acidity, LCO yield, and coke yield. Furthermore, increasing the hydrothermal heating time increased the surface area, pore volume, average pore diameter, and VGO conversion. The synthesis condition to produce high VGO conversion, about 70%, is at a hydrothermal temperature of 80 °C for 48 hours, while to obtain a high LCO yield, a heating time of 24 hours is required.