Effect of grain size of zeolite Y on its catalytic performance in olefin alkylation thiophenic sulfur process

Five LaHY zeolites with different grain sizes have been prepared, and their catalytic performances for olefin alkylation thiophenic sulfur (OATS) process have been investigated. With the grain size decreasing from 0.84 to 0.10 μm, the conversion of thiophene and the content of dihexylthiophene in the products initially increase then decrease, however, the coke deposition decreases and the selectivity of thiophene alkylation changes little. Among the five catalysts, the one with 0.41 μm of grain size shows the best performance, indicating the grain size has obvious effect on its reaction performances.