Potassium-containing calcium aluminate catalysts for pyrolysis of n-heptane Original Research Article

The effectiveness of potassium promoted calcium aluminate to catalyze the steam pyrolysis of n-heptane has been investigated at 1023 K and atmospheric pressure. Various amounts of potassium were incorporated on calcium aluminate (12CaO7Al2O3) by three different methods. Compared to thermal pyrolysis, addition of the calcium aluminate catalyst (either promoted or unpromoted) significantly increased the conversion as well as the yields of CH4, C2H4 and C3H6. The presence of potassium significantly reduced the coke deposited on the catalysts due to the enhanced rate of the coke gasification reaction. A significant amount of potassium was lost from the catalysts during preparation as well as during reaction. The gasification activity was higher for the catalysts in which the K2CO3 was incorporated by incipient wetness method but the potassium loss during reaction was also higher in comparison to catalysts in which the potassium was incorporated by co-sintering.