Investigation of technical catalysts deactivated in industrial catalytic reactors with different oil feed compositions by nearfield ptychogr

Hydrocracking is one of the most important catalytic technologies in oil industry to convert heavy fractions of petroleum and renewable hydrocarbon feedstocks into valuable diesel and jet-fuel products. Bifunctional catalysts containing an acid and a hydrogenation functionality are crucial for this technology. Designing new catalyst formulations to outperform with different feed compositions needs the understanding of the relationship between preparation, microstructure and performance under different conditions. In proposed experiment we will investigate hydrocracking catalyst extrudates at the nanoscale using nearfield ptychographic X-ray computed tomography (PCXT), that were deactivated in real industrial catalytic reactors where the oil feed compositions have different chemical nature. The correlation of coke deposition with the microstructure can give insights to the different deactivation mechanisms for catalysts used with different feedstocks.