Hydrocracking of hexadecane to jet fuel components over hierarchical Ru-modified faujasite zeolite.

Hexadecane hydrocracking was investigated over bifunctional Ru-containing micro- and mesoporous USY zeolites at 250°C under 45 bar in the presence of hydrogen in a batch reactor. A comparative study was performed using the Ru-free zeolites in the protonic form. The highest yield of jet-fuel products, C 9 - C 15 , being 26% at 71% conversion, was obtained with 2.5 wt% Ru deposited on a hierarchical micro-mesoporous USY zeolite, e.g. a material possessing secondary porosity, where a superior combination of acidity and mesoporosity was created by treatment of the parent zeolite with aqueous sodium hydroxide and tetrapropylammonium hydroxide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]