Hydrocracking of Polyolefin Thermal Cracking Waxes Over Ni-loaded Molecular Sieve Catalysts

The hydrocracking of thermal cracking waxes obtained from pyrolysis of polyolefin at 360°C for 120 min has been studied using Ni-loaded molecular sieves catalysts. According to XRD, TPR, and BET data, the presence of nickel oxide did not seem to damage the crystalline framework of the catalytic supports. Hydrocracking experiments were carried out in a stirred autoclave reactor at 300°C for 120 min under 2.0 MPa of hydrogen. The results suggested the existence of a balance between the acid and metal function over bifunctional catalysts, which affects hydrogenation and hydroisomerization of thermal cracking waxes. Hydrocracking reactions took place extensively over mixture of Ni/HBeta and ZSM-5, leading toward higher fractions of gases (30.2%) and diesel (23.5%). The higher fractions of gasoline (33.5%) and lube base oil (19.0%) were obtained over mixture of Ni/HSAPO-11 and ZSM-5. In contrast, hydrocracking reaction occurred in a lower extent over mixture of Ni/NMCM-41 and ZSM-5, which produces lube base oil with lower pour point (–10°C), gasoline and diesel with lower bromine numbers (1.1 and 0.8 g Br2/100 g sample). The viscosity index of lube base oil was in the range of 131–171 over all three mixed catalysts.