Dehydrogenation of Propane Gas over Platinum-Nickel-Tin Catalysts

Abstract

As the demand for propylene and propylene based products continues to increase, new types of production for this olefin are being developed. Catalytic dehydrogenation of propane is currently considered an important production route for propylene and one that will continue to grow into the future. The catalysts used in industrial dehydrogenation processes are typically platinum-tin on alumina oxide support or chromia-oxide on alumina support. This paper looks at the possibility of using platinum-nickel-tin catalysts as an alternative to these catalysts in an attempt to improve the catalysts and to reduce the overall cost of the catalysts. To optimize the performance of the new catalysts various parameters were adjusted including: the temperature of reduction, the length of reduction, and the ratio of platinum to nickel atoms. It was found that when the platinum-nickel atoms were at a 1:1 ratio in the platinum-nickel-tin catalysts, the conversion rate of the reaction was closest to that of pure platinum-tin catalysts. Additionally, the selectivity and the lifetime of this new catalyst was comparable to that of the original platinum-tin catalyst. Furthermore, the specific activity, or the amount of moles of olefin formed per moles of platinum and nickel, was greatest for this new catalyst. To characterize the catalysts, a TEM analysis was done to examine the particle size of the metals.