ABSTRACT
A study of regeneration of naphtha reforming catalyst was carried out in this work. Two samples of deactivated catalysts were collected at different on-line reforming hours before their usual end of life cycle. The catalyst were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Xray fluorescence (XRF), Fourier transform infrared spectroscope (FTIR), scanning electron microscopic (SEM) techniques and gas chromatograph/Mass spectrometer (GC/MS). The deactivated catalyst samples were calcined at different temperatures (400 OC - 800 OC), air pressures (0.7 - 2.1 kg/cm2) and times (2 - 8 hours) to obtain ptimum regeneration condition with the addition of dichloropropane to boost the activity of the catalyst. Optimum regeneration temperature, air pressure and time (500 OC, 1 bar and 4 hours respectively) were obtained via gravimetric method. After regeneration, the FTIR showed the removal of coke (band frequency 2800 -3000 cm-1), the XRD pattern showed that the metal and the support for all the catalysts had similar Bragg angle which coincides at 39 0, 46 0 and 68 0, while the support is amorphous, the crystalline nature of platinum enhances the peaks. XRF analyis showed platinum and alumina to be dominant before and after regeneration. The catalytic performance of the catalysts were determined for fresh, deactivated and regenerated catalysts using treated heavy naphtha as substrate at 465 oC reactor temperature. The results showed low reformate yield for deactivated catalysts (60.47 % and 77.74 %). Nonetheless, a significant improvement in the reformate yield was observed after regeneration of the catalyst from 60.47 % to 76.65 % and 77.74 % to 83.86 %. The regenerated catalyst performance compared favourably. The selectivity of all the catalysts for iso-paraffins were quite impressive. The reformate obtained from regenerated deactivated B catalyst 83.86 % yield contains more of iso-paraffins which are useful for gasoline blend but vii unsuitable for production of petrochemical products e.g. kero solvent, benzene, toluene or xylene.