Mesoporous Titania as a Support of Gallium-Based Catalysts for Enhanced Ethane Dehydrogenation Performance

Abstract

Ethane dehydrogenation (EDH) was carried out over gallium supported on mesoporous TiO2 (Ga/meso-TiO2) catalysts in a temperature range of 500 – 600 °C in the presence and absence of CO2. The Ga/meso-TiO2 catalyst, with high specific surface area of 186.5 m2 g−1, exhibited better catalytic performance compared with gallium supported on bulk TiO2 (Ga/bulk-TiO2), with low specific surface area. The C2H6 conversion increased from 3.1 to 18.0% upon increasing the reaction temperature from 500 to 600 °C in the presence of CO2, respectively. However, the Ga/meso-TiO2 catalyst was rapidly deactivated at 600 °C, attributed to carbonaceous deposition on the surface of the catalyst. The addition of CO2 could not only enhance the C2H6 conversion but also reduce coke formation. The coke deposits could be removed by a regeneration process using O2 flow. After the regeneration, the C2H6 conversion and C2H4 selectivity approximately recovered their initial values.