Continuous Dehydrogenation of n‐Pentanol over a Cr Modified Cu/γ‐Al2O3‐La2O3 Catalyst

Abstract The oxidant‐free dehydrogenation of n ‐pentanol over copper based catalysts was investigated in this paper. The effect of metal modification on the activity and stability of the copper catalyst supported on γ ‐Al 2 O 3 and La 2 O 3 (Cu/ γ ‐Al 2 O 3 ‐La 2 O 3 ) was clarified and a Cr modified Cu/Al 2 O 3 ‐La 2 O 3 (Cu‐Cr/ γ ‐Al 2 O 3 ‐La 2 O 3 ) showed the best catalytic performance. The conversion of n ‐pentanol was 70.0% and the selectivity for n ‐pentanal increased to 97.1% over Cu‐Cr/ γ ‐Al 2 O 3 ‐La 2 O 3 . X‐ray diffraction and temperature programmed reduction of H 2 indicated that the addition of Cr favors the formation and reduction of the copper oxide, and the dispersion of the active Cu 0 species, accounting for the good activity and stability of this catalyst. Furthermore, the lower amount of acidic sites in Cu‐Cr/ γ ‐Al 2 O 3 ‐La 2 O 3 is suggested to suppress the dehydration in oxidant‐free dehydrogenation of n ‐pentanol, accounting for the higher selectivity for n ‐pentanal.