Abstract
Dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene (EB) to styrene (ST) in the presence of CO 2, in which EB dehydrogenation is coupled with the reverse water-gas shift (RWGS), was investigated extensively through both theoretical analysis and experimental characterization. The reaction coupling proved to be superior to the single dehydrogenation in several respects. Thermodynamic analysis suggests that equilibrium conversion of EB can be improved greatly by reaction coupling due to the simultaneous elimination of the hydrogen produced from dehydrogenation. Catalytic tests proved that iron and vanadium supported on activated carbon or Al 2O 3 with certain promoters are potential catalysts for this coupling process. The catalysts of iron and vanadium are different in the reaction mechanism, although ST yield is always associated with CO 2 conversion over various catalysts. The two-step pathway plays an important role in the coupling process over Fe/Al 2O 3 while the one-step pathway dominates the reaction over V/Al 2O 3. Coke deposition and deep reduction of active components are the major causes of catalyst deactivation. CO 2 can alleviate the catalyst deactivation effectively through preserving the active species at high valence in the coupling process, though it can not suppress the coke deposition.
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