CO2/O2 Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Ethane to Ethylene over Ni/ZrO2, Ni/MgO and Ni/ZrO2(x)-MgO(100-x) Nanocatalysts

In this work, a series of Ni-Zr-Mg catalysts were prepared with sol-gel method and investigated for oxidativedehydrogenation of ethane (ODHE). The techniques of XRD, FESEM, EDX dot-mapping and BET were used forcatalysts characterization. With the help of acidic nature of CO2 present in the gas phase, coke formed on the surface ofthe catalyst would be decreased. Besides, by using CO2 as a mild oxidant in the mixture, deep oxidation of ethane wouldbe controlled. Having ZrO2 in Ni-based catalysts caused efficient activity while MgO would help the reaction with itsability to desorb produced ethylene molecules. FESEM results indicate by controlling composition of components incatalyst, synthesizing better nanosized materials are more probable. In this study, the catalysts with ZrO2/MgO weightratio of 3 exhibited the best catalytic activity, which gives the ethylene yield of 58.8% at ethane conversion of 65.8%.

Keywords:

Ni/ZrO2 , Ni/MgO and Ni/ZrO2(x)-MgO(100-x) , Oxidative Dehydrogenation , Ethane , Ethylene