Highly stable and selective Pt/TS-1 catalysts for the efficient nonoxidative dehydrogenation of propane

Nonoxidative propane dehydrogenation (PDH) has been regarded as an economic and efficient route to meet constantly increasing global demands for propylene. However, over industrially applied catalysts, thermally induced deactivation including coke formation and sintering of the active species occurs and simultaneously hydrocarbon cracking significantly reduces the selectivity for propylene. In the present work, titanosilicate-1 (TS-1) zeolite supported catalysts (Pt/TS-1) were developed for PDH. The results on the extensive characterizations of the prepared materials, in combination with density functional theory (DFT) calculations, verify that the framework Ti species in Pt/TS-1 can increase the dispersion and electron density of Pt, which significantly enhances the catalyst stability and selectivity for propylene. Utmost importantly, no sintering of the Pt active species in Pt/TS-1 occurs at the high temperatures required for the reaction and catalyst regeneration processes. Therefore, the current investigation provides a strategy for developing efficient PDH catalysts for practical applications.