Kinetic Study on Microwave-Assisted Oligomerization of 1-Decene over a HY Catalyst

Abstract

A promising production route for a high-quality base stock for lubricants is the oligomerization of high molecular-weight olefins in a high energy efficiency system. Oligomerization of 1-decene (C10) was conducted in a microwave-assisted system over a HY zeolite catalyst at different reaction temperatures and times. Higher reaction temperature resulted in increasing formation of dimers and trimers. The oligomerization reaction yielded 80% conversion, 54.2% dimer product, 22.3% trimer product and 3.4% heavier product at 483 K for a reaction time of 3 h. The best fit kinetic model for the dimerization reaction was formulated from an assumption of no vacant reaction sites. For the trimerization reaction, a molecule of dimer (C20) formed on the active site, interacted with a molecule of 1-decene in the bulk solution to form a molecule of trimer (C30). Apparent activation energies for the dimerization and trimerization reactions were 70.8 ± 0.8 and 83.6 ± 0.9 kJ/mol, respectively. The C13-NMR spectrum indicated that the oligomer product contained a significant portion of highly branched hydrocarbons, causing a substantial reduction in the viscosity index compared to conventional poly-alpha olefin lubricant (PAO).