Pd and Pt supported on mesoporous silica, silica–alumina and alumina as catalysts for benzene elimination in reformate gasoline

Mesoporous silica FDU12 and mesoporous silica–alumina (MSA) were successfully synthesized and used as supports. The corresponding Pd and Pt catalysts were investigated to reduce the benzene in reformate gasoline at 423–473 K. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, XRF, EDS-map, H2-adsorption, NH3-adsorption, Py-IR and N2 adsorption/desorption techniques. The influences of temperature on catalytic activity were studied by calculating the conversion and specific rate. All prepared catalysts showed high activity at low temperature. To evaluate the performance of catalysts, different H2/benzene molar ratios were used. The highest conversion of benzene is achieved at the low temperatures. The results demonstrated that the Pd/FDU12 catalyst has the best catalytic performance with suitable Lewis acid site properties. The MSA support demonstrated high activity in toluene conversion due to pore size and Brønsted and Lewis acid site amounts. Benzene molecules find a greater chance of hydrogenation at a high resident time in low H2/benzene molar ratio.