Dimerization of Hexadecene with Acid Mesoporous Silica-Alumina Catalysts

Catalytic dimerization of 1-hexadecene is shown to be a promising path to make high quality base oil. The base oil is produced by hexadecene dimerization with acid mesoporous silica-alumina catalyst, followed by distillation and hydrogenation. The base oil stock had a high viscosity index (typically 140-150) and a low volatility (Noack typically less than 8 %). The best performance in hexadecene dimerization was achieved with the MCM-22 zeolite embedded MCM-41 catalyst within the silica-alumina catalysts compared. Commercial mesoporous silica-alumina catalysts behaved similarly to a non-commercial MCM-41 catalyst. Y-zeolite and ion exchange resin Amberlyst-35 deactivated fast.