Abstract
The activity of 0.1%Pt and 0.35%Pt catalysts supported on iron-pillared Na- and Ca-saturated montmorillonite has been tested in the n-hexane isomerization reaction. It has been found that a decrease in the platinum content to 0.1% leads to the formation of high amounts of diisomeric hexanes and heptanes. The activity of the catalysts has been correlated with their physicochemical characteristics determined by the BET, ammonia TPD, electron microscopy, and Mossbauer spectroscopy methods. The high strength of the proposed catalysts, high yields of C6 and C7 di- and tri-isomers from n-hexane in the presence of catalysts with a low Pt content, the use of available and cheap natural materials, and a fairly high n-hexane conversion suggest that these catalysts can be used in the isomerization of low-octane light naphtha to high-octane isomers.