Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Ethane over NiO-loaded High Surface Area ZrO<sub>2</sub> Catalysts

Abstract

The oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane (ODHE) over POn/NiO/ZrO2 (High Surface area Zirconia: HSZ) catalyst was carried out with a fix-bed flow reactor at 450°C under atmospheric pressure. The ODHE without dilution of reactants with inert gas resulted in ethane conversion of 32.1%, with a high ethene selectivity of 64.2% and an ethene yield of 20.6%. In addition, the catalytic activity did not decrease for at least 12 h. In XPS analysis, Ni species of NiO/HSZ catalyst after the reaction exhibited partly reduced metallic Ni. In contrast, in POn/NiO/HSZ, Ni species exhibited mostly the NiO form after the reaction. It was found to be important for high ethane conversion and ethene selectivity, the Ni species not to be reduced to metallic Ni during the ODHE reaction. The addition of a small amount of POn to NiO/HSZ catalyst significantly contributed to the resistance to the facile reduction of NiO.