Abstract
H-Zeolite was successfully prepared from a homogenous solution under controlled conditions using a thermal approach with tetramethylammonium bromide as an organic structural directing agent (OSDA), which adjusts the pores size of zeolitic networks and then increases the catalyst efficiency. The synthesized H-zeolite particles were characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis, X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) analysis, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis, Brunauer Emmett and Teller (BET) in order to ascertain the formation of pure crystalline phase and chemical structure. The zeoliting reactions of heavy naphtha were performed using the Teflon-lined autoclaves at 300 °C for 1, 2, and 3 hours separately. The gasoline reformate yields were evaluated by different techniques including RON, 1H NMR, FTIR, and PIONA (GC-Mass) to investigate their characters and chemical contents. It was found that the loading of 2% of zeolite during the reforming reaction of heavy naphtha for 3 hours exhibited high conversion with high aromatic content, which resulted in a high RON (85) gasoline reformate. This study aims to employ a new approach to enhance Iraqi heavy naphtha feedstock by synthesizing a new zeolite with new characterizations.