Cracking of n-dodecane during supercritical state on HZSM-5 membranes

In the new generation of aircraft, jet fuel will serve as both an energy source and a heat sink for cooling through endothermic fuel reactions. Catalytic cracking of hydrocarbon fuel has proved to be potential for endothermic reaction. For this application, we have prepared ZSM-5 membranes as catalyst on the surface of stainless steel by secondary growth method. An optimized activation procedure of ZSM-5 membrane for catalytic cracking reaction is established by combining the results of catalytic reaction with thermal analysis (TGA and DSC). Taking n-dodecane as a model compound, the influence of silica alumina ratio (SAR = nSiO₂/Al₂O₃) of initial gel on the activity of hydrocarbon cracking reaction were studied. The results also demonstrate that the conversion of catalytic cracking reaction is much higher than that of pyrolysis during supercritical state. In addition, hydrogen molar ratio in gas production decreases with increasing the reaction temperature. Besides that, the optimum temperature for coke removal and the reduction of zeolite catalysts is between 550 °C and 600 °C.