Abstract
Oligomerization of isobutene to produce high-quality fuel distillates in the range of gasoline, jet fuel and diesel free of sulfur, nitrogen and aromatic hydrocarbons has been investigated over a new environmental-friendly, clean and long-lifetime supported phosphoric acid on H-Zeolite-Y catalyst with SiO2/Al2O3mol ratio of 60. The catalyst was obtained by acid impregnation and ultrasonic vibration technique with successive heating at different temperatures and under atmospheric pressure. The catalysts were characterized by several techniques (BET, SEM, XRD, TDA, TGA and XPS). The oligomerization reactions were carried out in a gas phase using fixed-bed flow reactor at variable temperature ranges between 50 and 100 degrees C under atmospheric pressure with a space velocity (WHSV) of 176h(-1).The fuel distillates were identified by GC/MS and quantified by gas chromatography. The results showed that the conversion of isobutene into distillates ranges between 97 and 100%. The maximum selectivity to C-8(=) isomers is about 65%, and a flow rate of isobutene 5.0ml/min. and temperature 50 degrees C were obtained. Research octane number under the above-mentioned conditions ranges between 85 and 96, and Reid pressure ranges between 27 and 125Pa.