A comparative study of the synthesis approaches and catalytic behaviors of Pt/SO42-/ZrO2Al2O3 catalysts for n-hexane hydroisomerization

Four Al-promoted Pt/SO42-/ZrO2Al2O3 (denoted as PtSZA) catalysts were prepared through different approaches to introduce alumina, including co-precipitation (CP), shaping (SH), suspension (SU) and mixing methods (MI). The effects of alumina incorporation methods to zirconia on the structure, surface acidity, reduction of the sulfur species and catalytic performance of PtSZA catalysts were studied. The results showed that PtSZA from SH introduction of alumina has better crystallization, better Pt promotion effect and higher catalytic performance in n-hexane hydroisomerization compared to the samples from other alumina introductions. Aluminum introduction method is a crucial step to prepare a PtSZA catalyst for n-hexane isomerization.