CO2 Assisted Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Propane to Propylene

Light olefins are the most commonly utilized feedstocks in the polymer and petrochemical industry. Light alkanes especially the LPG (Propane and butane) are highly available and relatively less expensive compared to light olefins (ethylene and propylene). CO2 is a safer and readily available mild oxidant compared to the conventional O2. The role of CO2 in the oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) include the reverse water-gas shift reaction, active sites regeneration through restoration of reactive oxygen species, reducing site deactivation by suppressing coke formation and blocking unselective electrophilic oxygen species. This proposal aims at designing CO2-ODH propane catalysts that can effectively activate CO2 and selectively cleave the C-H bond at high activity, possess balanced acid-base sites, and have the ability to synergize the active components for efficient redox property and metal-support interactions. The design and tuning strategies for the catalysts will involve confinement of active species in mesoporous materials, regulating highly reducible metal oxides, tuning the active phase and support compositions, interfacial modulation and controlled treatment. Detailed characterization of the synthesized catalysts will be conducted using XRD, BET surface area, NH3/CO2-TPD, SEM/TEM and ICP-OES, TPR, FTIR and Raman spectroscopic measurements. Catalyst evaluation (both performance and kinetic studies tests) will be carried out in a fixedbed flow reactor system. Products will be identified using an online GC connected to the reactor. Reactant conversion and products selectivities will be evaluated based on carbon balance. Reaction network will be elucidated using DelPlot technique and kinetic model editor (KME) will be used for tuning the reaction parameters (activation energies and reaction rate constants). The kinetic parameters can further be utilized for catalyst development, design, scale-up and optimization. The proposed study will be completed in eighteen (18) months period