TG and DSC study of the properties of coked molecular sieve catalyst

A cracking catalyst designatedSRNY was manufactured from a commercialSRNY molecular sieve (M.S.). The support consisted of kaolin, clay and SiO₂. The coking behaviour of theSRNY M.S., the support and the catalyst were examined with light diesel oil (LDO) as feedstock in a microreactor. The physico-chemical properties of both fresh and aged samples, subjected to or not subjected to the cracking reaction ofLDO, were sequentially characterized by means of pore structure determination and thermal analysis. The pore structure included the specific surface area and the pore volume or porosity. Thermal analysis methods used included TG and DSC. The results indicated that all coked samples exhibited obvious changes in surface pore structure and acidity in comparison with non-coked samples. Their specific surface area and acid amount decreased with increase in the coke content of the samples. The apparent activation energy data obtained from decoking samples in an air flow, using the temperature-programmed oxidation (TPO) method, showed that the kinetic parameters of theSRNY M.S. differed from those of theSRNY catalyst and its support.