Use of zeolites in petroleum refining and petrochemical processes: recent advances

Zeolites and molecular sieves have revolutionized oil refining and petrochemical processes with a step change in product selectivity and operation parameters. However, stringent emission norms and depleting refinery gross margins in view of volatile crude oil price and its quality has demanded search for novel zeolytic materials. Such developments are envisaged to improve existing zeolite based processes or to develop new and energy efficient processes to enhance the product yields and quality in oil refining and petrochemical processes, respectively. As a result, focused and sustained efforts have led to discovery of novel molecular sieves such as ITQ-n, EMM-n in recent time. The present paper illustrates a brief overview of such developments and is aimed to understand the applicative potential of novel molecular sieves in terms of their novel zeolite chemistry and structural-property aspects.