Hydroisomerization of Iraqi Light Naphtha Over the Prepared Pt/HY Catalyst to Produce High-Quality Fuel

Hydroisomerization is a substantial process applied in the refinery. Straight chains are converted into branched chains upgrading the octane number with the same number of carbons. In the present research, Al-Dura Refinery supplied Iraqi light naphtha, used in a hydroisomerization process to examine the effect of locally prepared Pt/HY catalyst on process efficiency. The catalyst’s morphology and average crystallite size were measured by Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Each experiment was carried out with a constant H₂/HC mole ratio of 4 at atmospheric pressure and reaction temperatures of 230, 250, 270, 290, and 310°C, and weight hour space velocity (WHSV) of 1.5, 3, and 4.5 h^–1. Gas chromatography (GC) type was used to evaluate the product quality. The findings demonstrated that the conversion of the main light naphtha compositions, 2-methylpentane (2MP), n-pentane, and 3-methylpentane (3MP), n-hexane, increased with reaction temperature. The results also showed that 270°C is the optimal operating temperature for hydroisomerization, exhibiting good isomerization selectivity.