Production of petroleum resins from pyrolysis gasoline distillate using cross-linked polystyrene supported Titanium tetrachloride

Immobilized titanium tetrachloride on the divinylbenzene-cross-linked polystyrene (DVB-PS), cross-linked polystyrene-TiCl۴ coordination complex (DVB-PS/TiCl۴) as a reusable polymeric catalyst containing Lewis’s acid sites was shown to be an active heterogeneous catalyst for the solid cationic initiation polymerization of the C۵+ aliphatic/aromatic refinery feed streams without the need for traditional catalyst residue removal. The effects of solvent, reactant concentration, catalyst amount, percent cross-linking, particle size, and temperature on the conversion were investigated. In addition, the catalyst stability is also examined by performing reusability, leaching experiments and it was observed that the solid acid catalyst can be reused for four times with no significant drop in its activity.