Photocracking of heavy petroleum molecule using titanium dioxide and zeolite

The cracking of long hydrocarbon chains to shorter ones, at room temperature is of great current interest. Thermal cracking using different types of zeolite, through carbonium ion formation, or by rupture of (C-C) bond are not well understood mechanically, and it is still a subject of discussion. In this work, novel investigations have been done in microheterogeneous system capable of cracking long hydrocarbon chains (C11, C12, C13, C14) to shorter chains (C4, C5, C6, C7, C8) by light irradiation of colloidal titanium dioxide microelectrode containing zeolite with continuous air flow, was exhibited high activity as photocracking catalyst. 23 tabs.; 24 figs.; 96 refs