Ni/Al2O3 powder and structured catalysts applied to the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane

JUAN P. BORTOLOZZI; LAURA B. GUTIERREZ; MARÍA A. ULLA

Congreso; EuropaCat X; 2011

University of Glasgow

The structured reactors used in many chemical reactions have significantly improved the efficiency of several industrial processes. Ethylene production is an important process in the petrochemical industry. This light olefin is used in the manufacturing of valuable intermediates. The oxidative dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons is a promising way of producing light olefins because the conditions necessary to carry it out are less severe than those used at the moment. Metal foams constitute one example of substrates for catalytic systems. This type of materials has certain properties such as high coefficients of heat and mass transfer, which make them attractive for applications in catalysis. In this context, we studied Ni/Al2O3 powder and structured catalysts for the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane. As recently reported, these formulations are active for this reaction. The catalysts prepared had nickel oxide as active phase (XRD, TPR and Raman) and showed good catalytic activity for the chosen test reaction. The results showed an improvement in catalytic activity when the structured catalyst were compared with the powder catalyst.