Highly Effective Direct Dehydrogenation of Propane to Propylene by Microwave Catalysis at Low Temperature over Co-Sn/NC Microwave Catalyst

The direct catalytic dehydrogenation of propane (C3H8) to value-added propylene (C3H6) has attracted much attention. However, direct dehydrogenation of C3H8 to C3H6 with outstanding catalytic performance at low temperature is a great challenge. Herein, we report a new approach for the direct dehydrogenation of C3H8 to C3H6 at low temperature by microwave catalysis over non-precious Co-Sn/NC microwave catalyst. It is found that the microwave direct catalytic dehydrogenation of C3H8 over Co-Sn/NC microwave catalyst at low temperature (450 degrees C) is highly efficient. The C3H8 conversion is 15 % and the C3H6 selectivity is 75 % at 450 degrees C. Comparatively, the C3H8 conversion and C3H6 selectivity were respectively only 3.2 % and 67.8 % for Co-Sn/NC catalyst at 450 degrees C in the conventional reaction mode under identical conditions. Furthermore, the microwave catalyst does not show visible change after tested for 180 min. Importantly, the apparent activation energy of Co-Sn/NC catalyst drop from 59.58 kJ/mol in the conventional reaction mode to 20.98 kJ/mol in microwave catalytic reaction mode, which suggests a significant microwave direct catalytic effect. This work provides a novel approach for highly effective direct dehydrogenation of C3H8 to C3H6 by microwave irradiation at low temperature.

Automated summary

The study presents a new approach for the direct dehydrogenation of propane to propylene at low temperature by microwave catalysis on non-precious Co-Sn/NC microwave catalyst, which exhibits high efficiency and outstanding catalytic performance.