The Effects of Zr on the Performance of Pt-Sn/γ-Al₂O₃ Catalyst for Catalytic Dehydrogenation

This paper studies the effect of Zr addition to Pt-Sn/γ-Al₂O₃ catalyst on the activity, selectivity and deactivation in the propane dehydrogenation. The fresh catalysts were characterized by H₂-TPR, H₂-chemical adsorption and the amount of deposited carbon on used catalysts was analyzed by O₂-pulse technology. The results of propane dehydrogenation showed that the addition of Zr to Pt-Sn/γ-Al₂O₃ catalyst can greatly reduce the deactivation rate and increase the selectivity to propene. H₂-TPR experimental showed that the presence of Zr could strengthen the interaction among Pt, promoter and support, which could prevent the Pt particles from sintering. The O₂-pulse experimental also showed that the amount of deposited carbon on tri-metallic catalyst was much smaller than that on bimetallic catalyst.