Mechanical mixtures of PdCeO and HPA/SiO2: structure and reactivity for n-hexane isomerisation

New reduced Ce–Pd oxides mechanically mixed with silica-supported heteropolyacids (HPA) such as H3PW12O40 and H4SiW12O40 were prepared, characterized and tested for n-hexane hydroisomerisation. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) show that the silica-supported HPA keep their Keggin structure after reaction. Mechanical mixtures of mixed Pd–Ce oxides and supported heteropolyacids have a beneficial effect for the n-hexane isomerisation to dibranched alkanes and sensible decrease of the cracking is observed.