Catalytic cracking of n-hexane

Abstract

An experimental investigation has been made on the catalytic cracking of n-hexane over zeolite catalysis in a packed bed reactor. As temperature increases, the average molecular weight of cracked products decreases. Coking reduces the conversion of n-hexane with reaction time, but does not change the product distribution significantly. Selectivity was low for ethylene and propylene which were produced less than 5 wt. \%. A Weekman type model was used for the reaction system: the reaction is assumed to be of first order and the time dependent decay function to be exponential. The values of the rate constants calculated from the model are in a qualitatively right trend with the experimental results that the primary steps of cracking are predominant campared to the secondary ones. The decay constants for the first order mechanism can be expressed by Arrhenius form. $$\alpha=6\times10^5\mbox{Exp}(-\frac{20.2}{RT}) (\frac{1}{hr})$$