Propane dehydrogenation using platinum supported on gallium-doped silica

The dehydrogenation of propane over Pt supported on Ga-doped silica was investigated, using various meso- and microporous silica supports. The addition of a small amount of Ga (0.5 wt%) to SBA-15 was enough to boost the resultant 1 wt% Pt catalyst’s conversion from < 5 up to 38%. Propene selectivity also increased from around 60 to 98%. Optimisation of the Pt and Ga content revealed that low loadings of both active components are necessary to increase the efficiency of the reaction and beyond this only modest improvements in performance were obtained. A range of pore structures were investigated, but the Ga content was found to be more important than the support morphology; without sufficient Ga incorporation into the support the catalyst could not achieve high conversion and selectivity. Post-reaction analysis suggested that coke formation blocking sites was the most likely explanation for catalyst deactivation. These results show that doping Ga into SiO2 as a support for Pt nanoparticles is a viable strategy for producing highly efficient catalysts for propane dehydrogenation