Evaluation of Synthesized Pt/HY-H- Mordenite Composite Catalyst for Isomerization of Light Naphtha

This work deals with a composite catalyst preparation, Pt/HY-H-Mordenite, for isomerization of Iraqi light naphtha produced from Baiji North Refinery in a pilot plant fixed bed reactor under operating conditions with the following ranges: temperature 150–250 °C, LHSV 2.46–4.7 hr-1, pressure 6 bar, and hydrogen to hydrocarbon ratio 3.7 mol/mol. The prepared nano-silica, Na-mordenite, H-mordenite, and Pt/HY-H-Mordenite catalysts were described by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analysis. The investigation results showed that the light naphtha isomerization conversion and yield increased with increasing the temperature and decreasing the liquid-hour space velocity. The highest conversion and yield, obtained at 250 °C and LHSV of 2.46 hr-1, were 89.38% and 76.36%, respectively.