Insights into the Structure-Performance Relationship and Viscosity Reduction Performance of Recyclable Magnetic Fe/Zeolite for Crude Oil Aquathermolysis.

Elucidating the structure-performance relationship of zeolites and their synergy with metals for the catalytic aquathermolysis of crude oil is crucial for designing efficient catalysts. Herein, the structure-performance relationship between the magnetic Fe-loaded zeolite's physicochemical properties and aquathermolysis performance is mainly explored. First, the catalytic aquathermolysis performance of various porous materials (Y, β, MCM-41, and ZSM-5 zeolites) was probed to investigate the effect of different topological structures on the viscosity reduction of heavy oil. Results showed that ZSM-5 has a favorable pore structure and acidity, and its viscosity reduction performance is 1.7-4.1 times those of other zeolites; therefore, it is more suitable as a carrier for aquathermolysis to reduce viscosity. Then, Fe substance (such as Fe 2 O 3 and Fe 3 O 4 ) was loaded onto the ZSM-5 support. It was found that Fe 3 O 4 /ZSM-5 had better performance compared with pure ZSM-5 and Fe 2 O 3 /ZSM-5, which could reduce the viscosity of heavy oil by 20.3%. Importantly, the Fe 3 O 4 /ZSM-5 catalyst is easily separated from crude oil due to its magnetism, hence it has the potential to be recycled and reused. In addition, the potential structure-performance relationship was systematically studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), elemental analysis (EL), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). As a result, it was considered that Fe 3 O 4 /ZSM-5 broke C-S bonds and reduced the heavy components (resin and asphaltene) of crude oil. This study has a certain guiding significance for developing heterogeneous magnetic hydrothermal viscosity reduction catalysts.