Increase of reformate yield by using polyacrylic acid as template in preparation of Pt/Re naphtha reforming catalysts Original Research Article

The need for naphtha reforming to produce high quality reformate for gasoline blend stocks with increased yield has become more urgent due to dwindling crude oil reserves and stringent air pollution regulations. Reforming catalysts prepared using polyacrylic acid (PAA) as a metal ion template exhibited 1.4–2.4% improvement in reformate yield and 1.0–2.0 wt% lower aromatic production compared to commercially available catalysts prepared using traditional metal salt coimpregnation methods, while maintaining a comparably high octane number. The catalyst prepared using the PAA template also showed higher liquid recovery with less coke deposition and longer projected catalyst lifetime. Characterization using infrared spectroscopy following the adsorption of CO revealed that catalysts made using the PAA method contained platinum particle surfaces with reduced atom coordination numbers.