DEVELOPMENT OF GERMANIUM PROMOTED NOBEL METAL SUPPORTED CATALYSIS FOR PROPANE DEHYDROGENATION.

Abstract

In this thesis, the effect of a germanium promoter on enhancing the propene selectivity, suppressing coke formation, and improving stability of noble metal supported catalysts in propane dehydrogenation was studied. Different characterization techniques combined with kinetic modelling were used to uncover the correlation between the reaction operation condition, metal active sites, structure, and electronic properties of the catalyst components with the catalytic performance. Characterization results revealed that better catalytic performance of the samples modified with Ge was related to alloy formation between Ge and the used noble metal, resulting in higher selectivity toward propylene as the desired product of the reaction. On the other hand, kinetic modelling revealed that Ge affecting not only the activity and selectivity but also the deactivation behavior of catalysts and kinetics of the reaction.