H2S promoted oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene

Abstract The technique of using mixtures of H 2 S/O 2 and H 2 S/SO 2 to selectively dehydrogenate hydrocarbons in the presence of suitable catalysts has been applied to the production of styrene from ethylbenzene. The mechanism of the reaction is discussed and results are presented on the influence of different catalysts and the optimization of processing variables such as temperature, space velocity and reactant concentrations. Styrene yields as high as 75% have been achieved under optimum conditions.