The hydroconversion of decalin in the presence of 0.8% H2S over bifunctional NiWS/SiO2-Al2O3 was investigated in the context of selective ring opening for LCO fuel upgrading.
The influence of inorganic additives (F,P) and organic booster (citric acid) was assessed. Fluorine leads to a significant increase in decalin conversion.
A maximum of 17% selectivity to ring-opening products is obtained, with moderate cracking to lighter products, while skeletal isomerization is the main hydroconversion route.
The ring-opening mechanism is dominated by the acidic function through the so-called paring reaction, whereas metal-type hydrogenolysis is negligible.