n-butane dehydrogenation on PtSn supported on MAl2O4 (M: Mg or Zn) catalysts

A study about the performance of PtSn supported on MAl2O4 ( M: Mg or Zn) catalysts with low metals loadings (0.3 wt.% Pt, 0.3 - 0.5 wt.% Sn) in n-butane dehydrogenation is reported in this paper. Catalysts were tested in flow and pulse equipments. Besides, reaction-regeneration cycles were performed in order to determine the catalytic stability. Results showed that the Sn addition enhances the catalytic properties, the influence being almost negligible for both supports when the Sn content increases from 0.3 to 0.5 wt.%. The bimetallic formulations supported on MgAl2O4 showed a better stability in the reaction-regeneration cycles than those supported on ZnAl2O4, this behavior being related to a higher stability of the metallic phase of the PtSn/MgAl2\O4 catalysts after the cycles as TPR results show.