Oxidehydrogenation of propane over Ni-Mo supported metal oxides catalysts

Abstract

Oxidative dehydrogenation of lower alkanes to their corresponding alkenes offers many advantages over the dehydrogenation process; such as: lower reaction temperatures and prevention of catalyst’s coking. In this paper, Ni-Mo based metal oxide catalysts (without or with Dopants; zinc and boron are used as dopants) were prepared, characterized and tested. BET experiments showed close average pore diameter for all catalysts (19.59-19.71 Ao ) while their surface areas varied in the range 149.1 - 224.4 m2/g . SEM experiments confirmed the good dispersion of the catalysts ingredients over the support. Higher propene yields were obtained with alumina supported catalysts (10%) compared to silica supported one (0.5%) which showed much higher selectivities when doped with boron (45%). Addition of Zn dopant to γ-Al2O3 supported catalyst decreased both the conversion (28.1% to 16.7%) and the selectivity (34% to 30%.). The propene yield was found to increase with increasing reaction temperatures and/or decreasing propane to oxygen ratios.