Potassium-promoted Pt–In bimetallic clusters encapsulated in silicalite-1 zeolite for efficient propane dehydrogenation

Propane dehydrogenation (PDH) has been a promising method to satisfy the increasing demand for propylene, but Pt-based catalysts always suffer from sintering and coke formation. Developing stable and efficient catalysts for PDH is of great significance for the industry. Herein, the paper reports that a catalyst with potassium-promoted Pt-In bimetallic clusters encapsulated in silicalite-1 (S-1) zeolite works as an efficient and stable catalyst for PDH. The catalyst achieves a propane conversion of 43.73 % with 97.14 % selectivity of propene and an extremely high propylene productivity of 20.33 mol gPt-1h-1 with a weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) of 6.75 h−1. No obvious deactivation occurs after 48 h on stream, affording an extremely low deactivation constant of 0.0025 h−1. The introduction of indium species greatly improves the propene selectivity and restricts the coke formation. The introduction of K+ into S-1 can significantly enhance the catalytic activity and the stability of the catalyst. The catalyst with excellent activity and stability is potential for industrial application.