Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Ethane to Ethylene over Mesoporous Ni-Based Catalysts

Abstract

Abstract Mesoporous nickel oxide was prepared using sodium dodecyl sulfate as the template and urea as the hydrolysis agent. The method was extended successfully to the synthesis of a mesoporous multicomponent Ni-based catalyst, NiMgO. The mesostructured catalysts were compared with a nanosized NiO catalyst prepared by a sol-gel process. These catalysts were used for oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene. The meso-NiO showed higher ethylene selectivity than the nano-NiO at the same ethane conversion. The temperature range for the reaction on meso-NiO was larger, which gave a higher ethylene yield. The catalytic performance of meso-NiO was improved by Mg modification. On meso-NiMgO, a 56.6% ethane conversion with 30.1% ethylene yield was obtained at 450 oC, C 2 H 6 :O 2 :N 2 = 1:1:4, and GHSV = 18000 ml/(g·h). This ethylene yield was much higher than the best obtained with nano-NiO (15.9%) or meso-NiO (22.5%).