High performance of H₃BO₃ modified USY and equilibrium catalyst with tailored acid sites in catalytic cracking

Increasing the cracking ability of catalyst by adjusting its surface acid property is of great significance for oil refining industry. The effects of boric acid on the structure and surface acidity of ultra stabilized Y (USY) and FCC equilibrium catalyst during the modification were investigated. The structural and surface properties of the prepared samples were characterized by low-temperature N₂sorption, XRD,²⁷Al and²⁹Si MAS NMR, and FTIR using pyridine probe molecule. Modified USY and equilibrium catalyst possessed reduced Lewis acid sites. The Brönsted/Lewis acid ratios of USY increased from 0.64 to 1.56 after modification, at the same time, the microporous surface areas increased, due to the nonframework and framework dealumination during the modification. The catalytic cracking tests were performed on a bench-scale micro reactor at 500 °C and atmospheric pressure, using n-dodecane as a modeling reactant and vacuum gas oil as conventional feedstock. The results showed that modified samples with high Brönsted acid sites had better cracking abilities and increased hydrogen transfer activity than raw samples.