Thermally Stable and Regenerable Catalysts for Alkane Dehydrogenation

Shale gas upgrading reactions have gained much interest since production dramatically increased around 2010. These reactions occur at high temperatures (600°C +) where undesired processes like sintering and/or coking often occur. It is of interest to use materials like ceria as a catalyst support in these alkane conversion reactions, but ceria is prone to losing active surface area through sintering. It is also of interest to understand the behavior of PtMn and PtZn intermetallics for propane dehydrogenation as they have been identified as some of the best catalysts by theory-based prediction in literature. This manuscript explores ways of utilizing ceria’s unique chemical properties to stabilize it for high temperature use and how PtMn and PtZn behave in industrially relevant conditions. It is shown that, with surface or bulk incorporation of certain dopants, ceria surface area can be preserved. Additionally, under cofed H2, coke deposition is not proportional to catalyst deactivation.