Combining CO reduction with propane oxidative dehydrogenation over bimetallic catalysts.

The inherent variability and insufficiencies in the co-production of propylene from steam crackers has raised concerns regarding the global propylene production gap and has directed industry to develop more on-purpose propylene technologies. The oxidative dehydrogenation of propane by CO (CO-ODHP) can potentially fill this gap while consuming a greenhouse gas. Non-precious FeNi and precious NiPt catalysts supported on CeO have been identified as promising catalysts for CO-ODHP and dry reforming, respectively, in flow reactor studies conducted at 823 K. In-situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements revealed the oxidation states of metals under reaction conditions and density functional theory calculations were utilized to identify the most favorable reaction pathways over the two types of catalysts.