Experimental Investigation of the Performance and Catalytic Properties of <i>x</i>Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>/ZrO<sub>2</sub> Mesoporous Catalysts in Propane Dehydrogenation in the Presence of CO<sub>2</sub>
Hossein Mohammadzadeh, Ahmad Shariati, Mohammad Reza Khosravi‐Nikou
Abstract
In this work, the performance of a series of ZrO 2 -supported Fe 2 O 3 mesoporous catalysts ( x Fe 2 O 3 /ZrO 2 ) was investigated with different weight percentages of Fe in the propane dehydrogenation process with CO 2 . The results showed that the synthesized catalysts suffered from coke deposits and bulk Fe 2 O 3 formation at low and high Fe loadings, respectively. An optimum Fe loading of 12 wt % indicated the best results due to the better reduction properties: an initial propane conversion of 32% and a propylene selectivity of 73%. Active oxygens on active Fe 3+ species and Zr 4+ strong acid sites were found to be responsible for propylene production and the source of side reactions, respectively. Increasing the iron species on ZrO 2 improved the propylene selectivity and catalyst stability, which were related to the coverage of Zr 4+ strong acid sites. The results showed that the presence of CO 2 led to the high stability of the catalyst through the reoxidation of active Fe 3 O 4 species and coke removal.