title: Propane dehydrogenation over Pt-Cu bimetallic catalysts: the nature of coke deposition and the role of copper.
abstract: This paper describes an investigation of the promotional effect of Cu on the catalytic performance of Pt/Al2O3 catalysts for propane dehydrogenation. We have shown that Pt/Al2O3 catalysts possess higher propylene selectivity and lower deactivation rate as well as enhanced anti-coking ability upon Cu addition. The optimized loading content of Cu is 0.5 wt%, which increases the propylene selectivity to 90.8% with a propylene yield of 36.5%. The origin of the enhanced catalytic performance and anti-coking ability of the Pt-Cu/Al2O3 catalyst is ascribed to the intimate interaction between Pt and Cu, which is confirmed by the change of particle morphology and atomic electronic environment of the catalyst. The Pt-Cu interaction inhibits propylene adsorption and elevates the energy barrier of C-C bond rupture. The inhibited propylene adsorption diminishes the possibility of coke formation and suppresses the cracking reaction towards the formation of lighter hydrocarbons on Pt-Cu/Al2O3, while a higher energy barrier for C-C bond cleavage suppresses the methane formation.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tianjin 300072, China. jlgong@tju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zhiping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Shuirong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Tuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xinbin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Jinlong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gong