Promotion effect of sulfur impurity in alumina support on propane dehydrogenation

Alumina materials are widely applied either as a catalyst or support in various industrial catalytic processes. Impurities in alumina that are unfriendly to catalytic performance are inevitably present during the production processes. Facing this problem, we here report that the use of sulfur-containing alumina as the support can generate active alumina-supported platinum catalyst, which exhibits superior propylene selectivity and anti-coking ability during propane dehydrogenation. It demonstrated that the sulfur impurity in alumina is not entirely detrimental. During the reduction process, the formation of gas-phase sulfur species increased the electrons and poisoned unsaturated sites of platinum particles. The sulfur impurity in alumina can be removed through a hydrogen reduction process, and the degree of desulfurization is correlated with the operating temperature. This study demonstrated that the rational use of impurity will contribute to the design of a catalyst with high reactivity for potential applications.