Decane Dehydrogenation into Decene

C10-C14 long paraffin dehydrogenation is a key-step for linear alkyl benzene (LAB) production. However, this reaction, which requires monofunctional catalysis, is implemented on Pt-Sn catalysts deposited on controlled acidity alumina. It is generally associated with several secondary reactions, among which aromatic formation is extremely problematic it is catalyzed by a metallic phase (M) or by residual support (A) activity. Indeed, on the one hand, these arylaromatics are very good coke precursors and are consequently responsible for a large part of the 

The evolution of resulting aromatic product distribution and, more precisely, the decrease of butylbenzene selectivity with tin amount or with working-time seems to agree with this hypothesis. 

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The concept of site isolation is important in catalysis. On metal particles one usually assumes that ensembles of metal atoms are necessary to activate bonds and to accommodate the fragments of molecules that tend to dissociate or to recombine. We present here three examples of such effects the dehydrogenation of decane into 1-decene, the dehydrogenation of isobutane into isobutene and the hydrogenolysis of acids or esters into aldehydes and alcohols. In most cases the effect of tin, present as a surface alloy, wiU be to dilute the active sites, reducing thereby the yield of competitive reactions. 

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