| Abstract
| - To reduce the consumption of hydrogen when converting heavy oil to light oil, the catalyticcracking of a heavy oil (residue of atmospheric distillation) with steam was examined. Two ironoxide-based catalystshematite (α-Fe2O3) and goethite (FeOOH, denoted herein as FeOXcatalyst)were used. It was found that the heavy oil was converted to a mixture of useful lighthydrocarbons (i.e., gasoline, kerosene, and gas-oil) over iron oxide-based catalysts. Moreover,because the FeOX catalyst possessed mesopores with diameters of 6−10 nm, it exhibited higheractivity than the α-Fe2O3 catalyst without the production of carbonaceous residue. The catalyticactivity could be enhanced by loading ZrO2 on the FeOX catalyst. From the X-ray diffractionanalysis and Mössbauer measurement, it was considered that the active oxygen species generatedfrom H2O over ZrO2 particles spilled over the FeOX surface, where the oxidized decomposition ofheavy oil occurred.
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