MOSCOW, September 27. Researchers at Samara University have developed inexpensive catalysts that make it possible to purify oil from unsaturated hydrocarbons at lower temperatures and pressures than usual. This purification improves the quality of petroleum products; in addition, the extracted hydrogenation products can be used to synthesize new substances. The results of the work were published in the scientific journal Catalysis Letters.
One of the main petrochemical processes is the hydrogenation of unsaturated hydrocarbons contained in oil. These hydrocarbons deteriorate the properties of catalysts and are also subject to rapid oxidation and resin formation. Because of this, the quality of products obtained from oil, in particular fuel, decreases. Therefore, the development of effective and inexpensive hydrogenation catalysts is one of the most important tasks facing chemists today.
It is important to note that unsaturated hydrocarbons and their hydrogenation products are used to produce vitamins, pharmaceuticals, fragrances and other products. To purify petroleum fractions from unwanted unsaturated hydrocarbons, the most promising is the use of effective and selective hydrogenation catalysts, which make it possible to obtain high-quality petroleum products, said Roman Shafigulin, Associate Professor of the Department of Physical Chemistry and Chromatography of Samara University.
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Scientists of the Samara National Research University named after Academician S.P. Korolev were able to obtain an effective catalyst for the hydrogenation of unsaturated hydrocarbons based on environmentally friendly and inexpensive mesoporous silica gel modified with dysprosium, lanthanum and silver.
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“In industry, the hydrogenation of diene and acetylene hydrocarbons contained in petroleum fractions is carried out on palladium-containing catalysts at high temperatures and pressure. The main problems of such a process are significant losses of olefins and short service life of the catalyst,” commented Angela Bulanova, head of the study, professor of the Department of Physical Chemistry and Chromatography at Samara University.
According to her, the resulting inexpensive and effective catalysts make it possible to purify oil from unsaturated hydrocarbons at lower temperatures and pressure. The efficiency and selectivity of catalysts are maintained for a long time, which increases their service life and, therefore, significantly reduces the cost of the process of removing unwanted unsaturated hydrocarbons from oil. In addition, the extracted hydrogenation products can be used for the synthesis of new substances.
The researchers carried out the hydrogenation of mixtures of unsaturated hydrocarbons using an installation developed at Samara University and analyzed the reaction mixture on a gas chromatograph.
In the future, scientists plan to continue the search for inexpensive metals — modifiers of mesoporous silica gel and to study the influence of the nature of the modifier on catalytic properties. The researchers also plan to develop catalysts for the hydrogenation of aromatic hydrocarbons to produce environmentally friendly, inexpensive polymers and other petroleum products.
The research was carried out within the framework of the main scientific directions of the Department of Physical Chemistry and Chromatography of Samara University.
Samara University is a participant in the state support program for universities of the Russian Federation «Priority-2030».