Conversion of ethane to ethylene and hydrogen by utilizing carbon dioxide: Screening catalysts

Owing to the necessity of carbon dioxide conversion and exploring new routes for ethylene and hydrogen production, carbon-dioxide-assisted dehydrogenation over alumina-supported catalysts is evaluated in the present contribution. In this regard, the experimental results of a wide range of catalysts at 700 °C and the GHSV of 3600 L/kg.hr are presented and compared. The utilized catalysts showed activity toward the conversion of ethane. However, a few of them showed good selectivity for the production of either ethylene or hydrogen. The catalysts made up of the oxides of cobalt and molybdenum showed very good conversion, selectivity, and yield for ethylene production. Investigating the effect of time on steam on the catalyst performance indicated that these catalysts would be suitable choices in the course of ethylene production. 58% conversion of ethane and 21.9% ethylene yield are the achievements of utilizing the molybdenum-cobalt oxide catalyst. By utilizing rhenium-platinum nickel-potassium catalysts, 100% ethane conversion in tandem with more than 260.0% hydrogen yield was also obtained.