Highly selective production of styrene by non-oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene over molybdenum-zirconium mixed oxide catalyst in fixed bed reactor: Activity, stability and kinetics

Non-oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene was carried out using 5% Mo/Zr mixed oxide as catalyst where the percentage is with reference to the metal content. The reaction was conducted in a down-flow fixed bed vapor phase reactor at atmospheric pressure. Maximum single-pass conversion of 19.53% was achieved with 97.5% selectivity at 853 K and WHSV of 1.72 h−1. The reported catalyst was found to have better selectivity of styrene than the catalysts reported before. The catalyst was very active, selective, and easy to reactivate insitu by passing air through the reactor. Regenerated catalyst also resulted in similar results as the fresh one. Reaction mechanism and kinetics were studied.