Nanosheets-stacked Al2O3-flower anchoring Pt catalyst for intensified ethylene production from ethane dehydrogenation

Abstract

Catalytic ethane dehydrogenation (CEDH) to ethylene is an important alternative to oil-based cracking processes due to the shale gas revolution, but the dominant Pt-based catalysts still suffer from fast deactivation, caused by coke formation and Pt sintering. Herein, we report a catalyst of nanosheets-stacked Al2O3-flower anchoring Pt species onto pentacoordinated Al (AlV) sites with a low Pt loading of only 0.07 wt%. This catalyst was prepared by a simple wet impregnation method without introducing any promoter, exhibiting a stable ethane conversion of 25–27 % (close to thermodynamic equilibrium conversion) with ethylene selectivity of 95–97 % within a single running of 300 h (590 °C, 33 vol% C2H6/N2, GHSVC2H6 of 2100 mL h−1 g−1), and moreover, a high TOF value of 6084 h−1 could be achieved. This work offers a promising CEDH catalyst, with both very high Pt dispersion (from appropriate amount of AlV sites) and intensified mass transfer (from nanosheet feature).