Iron oxide-based honeycomb catalysts for the dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene

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Corning has recently developed a novel extrusion method to make bulk transition metal oxide honeycomb catalysts. One area of effort has been iron oxide-based catalysts for the dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene, a major chemical process that yields worldwide 20MM tons/yr. In industry, the monomer is synthesized mostly in radial-flow fixed-bed reactors. Because of the high cross-sectional area for flow and shallow depth of the catalyst bed in these reactors, low reactor pressure gradients are maintained that favors the yield and selectivity for styrene formation. However, the radial-flow design has inherent detractions, including inefficient use of reactor volume and large temperature gradients that decrease catalyst service life. The overall economics of the process can be improved with parallel-channel honeycomb catalysts and axial flow reactors. The simple axial flow design of honeycomb catalysts provides low-pressure drop, while making more efficient use of reactor volume, with better heat and mass transfer characteristics compared to a conventional radial packed bed. An important part of this concept is the ability to fabricate a wide family of dehydrogenation catalyst compositions into honeycombs with the requisite chemical, physical, mechanical, and catalytic properties for industrial use. The ethylbenzene dehydrogenation (EBD) honeycomb catalysts developed by Corning have compositions similar to those commonly used in industry and are prepared with the same catalyst and promoter precursors and with similar treatments.However, to enable extrusion of catalyst precursors into honeycomb shapes, especially at cell densities above 100cell/in.2, Corning’s process compensates for the high salt concentrations and the high pH of the batch material that would otherwise prevent or impede honeycomb extrusion. The improved rheological characteristics provide the necessary plasticity, lubricity, and resiliency for honeycomb extrusion with sufficient binder strength needed before calcination to the final product. Iron oxide-based honeycombs after calcination are strong and possess macroporosity and high surface area. In bench-scale testing, particular honeycomb catalyst compositions exhibited 60–76% ethylbenzene conversion with styrene selectivity of 95–91%, respectively, under conventional reaction conditions without apparent deactivation or loss of mechanical integrity.