Investigation of Hydrogen Influence on n-Hexane Aromatization over Pt/Al2O3 Catalyst

The hydrogen influence of n-hexane aromatization over Pt/Al2O3 catalyst in a pulse microcatalytic reactor at temperatures ranging from 440-5000C, contact time ranging from 1.25-3.75mg/(ml/min) and a total pressure of 4.0kg/cm2 was investigated . Results show that whilst cracked products and benzene were produced in helium, cracked products, methylcyclopentane and benzene were produced in helium-hydrogen mixture. The products formation in helium and helium-hydrogen mixture was affected by the temperature and contact time. Reactions in helium-hydrogen mixture show that the formation of cracked products was favoured at high hydrogen content whilst benzene appears to pass through a maximum at about 50% H2. The preliminary kinetic investigation of n-hexane aromatization appears to be described by a first order kinetics in both helium and helium-hydrogen atmosphere. The activation energies obtained are 15.92 and 19.5 kcal/mol in helium and helium-hydrogen mixture respectively. This difference in activation energies is consistent with difference in reaction mechanism of n-hexane reforming on Pt/Al2O3 catalyst in helium and helium-hydrogen mixture