Nuovi catalizzatori per l'idrogenazione, l'idrogenolisi/ring-opening di composti aromatici policiclici

The removal of aromatic hydrocarbons from diesel has received considerable attention after environmental regulations that require petroleum refiners to raise cetane number and to limit aromatics in diesel fuel in order to improve combustion efficiency and reduce particulate and NOx emissions. An alternative is blending with Fischer–Tropsch (FT) gas-to-liquid diesel fuel; however, this option may not be economically viable solution in case of extensive blend. Another alternative is to incorporate in the diesel pool a greater fraction of the so-called light cycle oil (LCO). Due to its high aromatics content and its low cetane number (typically between 20 and 30), the incorporation of LCO may have a negative impact on the quality of diesel. Current technologies for LCO improvement are based on hydrogenation to adjust both sulphur and cetane number but while an important fraction of the aromatics present in LCO can be saturated in a deep hydrogenation process, the cetane number may still be lower than the target values specified in diesel legislations, so further upgrading is needed. An interesting technology for improving the cetane number of diesels and maintaining meanwhile high diesel yields is achieved by combining a complete hydrogenation process with a selective ring opening (SRO) reaction of the naphthenic rings. The SRO can be defined as naphthene ring-opening to form compounds with high cetane number, but without any carbon losses. Controlling the interconversion of six- and five- membered rings via an acid-catalyzed ring-contraction step is also of great importance, since selective conversion of six-membered to five-membered naphthene rings greatly influences ring-opening rates and selectivity. High intrinsic activity may be enhanced by deposition of noble metals on acidic, high surface area supports, because it is possible to arrange close proximity of the metal and acid sites. Moreover, in large-pore supports, the diffusion resistance of liquid reactants into the pores is minimized. In addition to metal centres, the acid sites of support also plays role in aromatics hydrogenation. However, the functions of different kinds of acid sites (Brønsted vs. Lewis acidity), and their optimal concentrations and strengths, remain unclear. In the present study we investigated the upgrading of an aromatic-rich feedstock over different type of metal supported on mesoporous silica-alumina. The selective hydrogenolysis and ring opening of tetrahydronaphthalene (THN or tetralin) was carried out as representative of LCO fractions after deep hydrogenation process. In this regards the aim of this study is to evaluate both the effect of metals and that of the supports characterized by different acid distribution and strength, on conversion and selectivity. For this purpose a series of catalysts were prepared by impregnation. The catalysts were characterized and conversion tests of THN were performed in a lab-scale plant operating in the pressure range from 7.0-5.0 MPa and in the temperature range from 300 to 360°C.

Investigation of heterogeneous catalysts for the synthesis of fine chemicals

In order to match the more stringent environmental regulations, heterogenization of traditional homogeneous processes is one of the main challenges of the modern chemical industry. Great results have been achieved in the fields of petrochemicals and base chemicals, whereas in fine chemical industry most of the synthetic procedures are based on multistep processes catalyzed by homogeneous catalysts mainly used in stoichiometric amounts. In the fine chemicals manufacture not so much efforts have been devoted to the investigation of suitable solid catalysts for the development of greener processes, then this sector represent a very attractive field of research. In this context, the present work deals with the extensive investigation of the possibility to heterogenize existing processes, in particular two different classes of reactions have been studied: alkylation of aromatic and heteroaromatic compounds and selective oxidation of aromatic alcohols. Traditional solid acid catalysts, such as zeolites, clays and alumina have been tested in the gas phase alkylation of 1,2-methylendioxybenzene, core building block of many drugs, pesticides and fragrances. The observed reactivity were clarified through a deep FTIR investigation complemented by ab initio calculation. The same catalysts were tested in the gas phase isopropylation of thiophene with the aim of clearly attribute the role of the reaction parameters in the reaction proceeding and verify the possibility to enhance the selectivity of one of the two possible isomers. Finally various Au/CeO2 catalysts were tested in the synthesis of benzaldehyde and piperonal, two aldehydes largely employed in the manufacture of fine chemical products, through liquid phase oxidation of the corresponding alcohols in very mild conditions.