Advanced Iran-Made Nanocatalysts Used for Sweetening Sour Gases in Refineries

This company, which produces various advanced nanocatalysts and nanosorbents, has produced and offered activated alumina-based sulfur recovery nanocatalysts to the country's industries for this purpose.

Three important categories of the company's nanocatalysts have been used in Ilam and Hasheminejad refineries, various phases of South Pars, and Khark petrochemical company, and have played a significant role in settling the problem of sweetening sour gases in refineries.

Due to their unique characteristics, these strategic nanoproducts replace many of the previous imported products in various industries.

Sulfur recovery nanocatalysts in the Claus section of gas refineries, reforming nanocatalysts in the steelmaking industry, nanostructured gamma alumina and nanostructured alpha alumina in the industrial and engineering ceramics industries, and nanostructured active alumina have many applications as nanosorbents in the compressed air and industrial compressor industries.

In a relevant development in July, Iranian researchers succeeded in producing polyexometallic nanocatalysts based on organic-metallic frameworks to be used in the process of normal hexane isomerization to increase the quality of gasoline in compliance with environmental standards.

‘Normal isomerization of hexane using polyexometallic nanocatalysts based on organic-metallic frameworks’ is the title of the thesis of Neda Rezayee, a PhD graduate in Chemical Engineering from Noushirvani University of Technology which was completed with the support of the National Science Foundation of Iran.

“Due to the importance of complying with environmental standards and the need to use up-to-date and efficient catalysts in the refining industry, in this research, normal isomerization of hexane was chosen in the vicinity of the best acid catalysts to improve their performance in the research process,” Rezayee said.

Noting that compliance with environmental standards in the isomerization process and finally in the gasoline production process and making a suitable acid catalyst for the isomerization process is one of the goals of this project, she said, “In this project, we are looking for a catalyst that has the highest efficiency and can provide more active sites for the isomerization reaction and remain active for a longer time.”

“The research showed that the super acid catalysts are suitable for performing the isomerization process due to their high acid properties but due to their deactivation, a suitable solution should be sought. For this reason, we focused on this issue and the results of this research are definitely applicable in the process of normal hexane isomerization,” Rezayee added.

“Finally, by making a suitable acid catalyst, the isomerization process can be advanced and the environmental risks caused by the production of low-quality gasoline can be reduced,” she stated.

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