Hydrogenation of Tetralin over Supported Ni and Ir Catalysts

Selective hydrogenation and ring opening (SRO) of tetrahydronaphthalene (tetralin) was studied over nickel and iridium supported catalysts in the context of the removal of polynuclear aromatics from diesel fuel. The tetralin hydrogenation was carried out in a fixed-bed reactor at 270 degrees C, using H-2 pressure of 30 bars, WHSV of 2.3 h(-1), and H-2/feed molar ratio of 40; the resultant products were analyzed by GC and GC-MS. The Ir/SiO2 catalyst gave 85% of tetralin conversion and 75.1% of decalin products selectivity whereas Ni/SiO2 catalyst showed an unprecedented high catalytic performance with 88.3% of tetralin conversion and 93% of decalin products selectivity. The catalysts were characterized by using different characterization techniques such as XRD, TPR, and HR-TEM to know the physicochemical properties as well as active sites in the catalysts.