Isobutene dehydrogenation

Fig. 9 Temperature profile and conversions of three-stage isobutene dehydrogenation process.

Casanave D et al (1999) Zeolite membrane reactor for isobutene dehydrogenation experimental results and theoretical modeling. Chem Eng Sci 54 2807-2815... 

In another study, a Ft - Zn/X zeolite prepared by sequential addition of Zn and Ft to a 13X zeolite support has been characterized by microcalorimet-ric measurements of the adsorption of H2 and C2H4 at 300 K and tested in isobutene dehydrogenation [262]. The initial heats of H2 and C2H4 adsorptions were found to be 75 and 122 kj mol respectively. 

R.D. Cortright, J.A. Dumesic, Microcalorimetric, spectroscopic, and kinetic studies of sihca supported Pt and Pt/Sn catalysts forisobutene dehydrogenation. J. Catal. 148,771-778 (1994) R.D. Cortright, J.A. Dumesic, Effect of potassium on shica-supported Pt and Pt/Sn catalysts for isobutene dehydrogenation. J. Catal. 157, 576-583 (1995)... 

Methyl /-Butyl Ether. MTBE is produced by reaction of isobutene and methanol on acid ion-exchange resins. The supply of isobutene, obtained from hydrocarbon cracking units or by dehydration of tert-huty alcohol, is limited relative to that of methanol. The cost to produce MTBE from by-product isobutene has been estimated to be between 0.13 to 0.16/L ( 0.50—0.60/gal) (90). Direct production of isobutene by dehydrogenation of isobutane or isomerization of mixed butenes are expensive processes that have seen less commercial use in the United States. 

Methyl tert-Butylluther Methyl /-butyl ether (MTBE) is an increasingly important fuel additive. Platinum—tin and other PGM catalysts are used for the dehydrogenation of isobutane to isobutene, an intermediate step in MTBE manufacture. 

Presumably, jS-chloro ketones could also react similarly with methyl(ene) ketones. Another logical extension is the possibility of synthesizing pyrylium salts by dehydrogenative condensation of -chlorovinyl ketones with oleflns like styrene, in the presence of stannic chloride (the olefins so far tested, like isobutene, are not suitable structurally). 

Isoprene is the second important conjugated diene for synthetic rubber production. The main source for isoprene is the dehydrogenation of C5 olefins (tertiary amylenes) obtained by the extraction of a C5 fraction from catalytic cracking units. It can also be produced through several synthetic routes using reactive chemicals such as isobutene, formaldehyde, and propene (Chapter 3). 

Figure 4 shows the evolution of the initial conversion versus temperature at a space velocity of 0.03 h l. The equilibrium conversion of isobutane to isobutene is 100% in our conditions. An increase of the conversion with temperature up to 773-823 K is observed. When metals were added, we also noted a large increase in isobutane dehydrogenation. Table 2 gives initial isobutane conversions, isobutene selectivities and yields of the reaction at 823 K for the three tested samples. 

In some catalytic processes, it is necessary to avoid carbon-carbon bond cleavage. For example, isobutane is mainly transformed into its lower alkane homologues (hydrogenolysis products) on metal surfaces, while it can be converted more and more selectively into isobutene when the Pt catalysts contain an increasing amount of Sn (selective dehydrogenation process) [131]. 

Because hydrogen can easily be removed from a reaction stream, many dehydrogenations have been studied. These include dehydrogenation of methane to carbon,326 ethane to ethene,327,328 propane to propene,329 n-butane to butenes,330 isobutane to isobutene,331,332 cyclohexane to benzene,332-334 meth-ylcyclohexane to toluene 335 n-heptane to toluene,336 methanol to formaldehyde,330 and ethanol to acetaldehyde.337... 

Figure 14.3 Different strategies for integration of isobutane (oxi)dehydrogenation to isobutene and isobutene oxidation to methacrolein and to methacrylic acid.

In the second scheme, the alkane is transformed to the olefin by oxidehydro-genation, and the outlet stream is sent to the second oxidation reactor without any intermediate separation." Isobutane and isobutene are recycled, together with oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon oxides. Finally, the third scheme differs from the first one in that hydrogen is separated from propane/propylene after the dehydrogenation step, and oxygen is preferably used instead of air in the oxidation reactor." ... 

Butane isomerization is usually carried out to have a source of isobutane which is often reacted with C3-C5 olefins to produce alkylate, a high octane blending gasoline [13]. An additional use for isobutane was to feed dehydrogenation units to make isobutene for methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) production, but since the phaseout of MTBE as an oxygenate additive for gasoline, this process has decHned in importance. Zeolitic catalysts have not yet been used industriaUy for this transformation though they have been heavily studied (Table 12.1). 

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. 

Figure 3.37 Activity and selectivity in the reaction of isobutane dehydrogenation to isobutene with nanoparticles of Pt/silica (a) and with Pt/Sn bimetallic nanoparticles/silica obtained via the organometallic route (b).

More recent patents describe the following preparation from a-methylcinnam-aldehyde. a-Methylcinnamaldehyde (from benzaldehyde and propionaldehyde) is hydrogenated to a-methyldihydrocinnamic alcohol. The alcohol is alkylated with tert-butyl chloride or isobutene to 4-tert-butyl-o -methyldihydrocinnamic alcohol, which is subsequently dehydrogenated to the desired aldehyde [152, 153]. 

In this paper, we will report the electronic and catalytic reactivities of the model VC/V(110) surface, and our attempt to extend them to VC powder catalysts. By using high-resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS) and NEXAFS techniques, we observed that the surface properties of V(110) could be significantly modified by the formation of vanadium carbide some of the experimental results on these model surfaces were published previously.3-5 We will discuss the selective activation of the C-H bond of isobutane and the C=C bond of isobutene on V(110) and on VC/V(110) model systems. These results will be compared to the catalytic performances of vanadium and vanadium carbide powder materials in the dehydrogenation of isobutane. 

The VC/V(110) appears to be a reliable model system for the VC powder catalysts, as suggested by the NEXAFS results. This is further supported by the correlation of the reactivities of iso-butane and isobutene on VC/V(110) to link the dehydrogenation activity of isobutane on VC powder catalysts. 

The main objective of the present work was to investigate the possibilities of direct (and selective) n-butane dehydroisomerisation into isobutene over Ga-containing zeolites. Another objective was to evaluate the role played by Ga and acid sites in this reaction. For this work such medium pore zeolites, as ferrierite (FER) and theta-1, were chosen because of their superior performance in n-butene isomerisation reaction.3,7 The modifying metal, Ga, was chosen due to the known high dehydrogenation activity of Ga-ZSM-5 catalysts in propane and n-butane conversions. 10 However, Ga-ZSM-5 catalysts were not used in this study because of their high aromatisation activity,8,9 which would not allow to stop the reaction at the stage of formation and isomerisation of butenes. 

Investigation of n-butane conversion over H-forms of the ferrierite and theta-1 zeolites demonstrated that the isobutene selectivities were similar (and low) for these catalysts. The maximum selectivities (7-8 %) were obtained at low n-butane conversions (5-10 %) and decreased with increasing conversion of n-butane due to olefin interconversion and aromatisation reactions. Isobutene was in equilibrium with the other butene isomers due to the high isomerisation activity of the parent zeolites. The maximum selectivity to butenes, which was observed at low conversions, was around 20 %. This value reflects a moderate contribution of the dehydrogenation steps in n-butane transformation over H-forms of the ferrierite and theta-1 zeolites and indicates an important role of the n-butane protolytic cracking steps over these two catalysts. 

Conversion of n-butane into isobutene over theta-1 and ferrierite zeolites was studied in a continuous flow microreactor at 530°C and 100% n-butane as a feed. The zeolites were used as catalysts in the H- and Ga-forms. Insertion of Ga into the zeolites resulted in improved isobutene selectivities due (i) to an increase in the dehydrogenation activities and (ii) to a decrease in the cracking activities of the catalysts. The highest selectivities to isobutene (-27%) and butenes (-70%) were obtained with the Ga-theta-1 catalyst at n-butane conversions around 10%. These selectivities decreased with increasing conversion due to olefin aromatisation, which was enhanced considerably by the Ga species present in the catalysts. 

Isobutene is present in refinery streams. Especially C4 fractions from catalytic cracking are used. Such streams consist mainly of n-butenes, isobutene and butadiene, and generally the butadiene is first removed by extraction. For the purpose of MTBE manufacture the amount of C4 (and C3) olefins in catalytic cracking can be enhanced by adding a few percent of the shape-selective, medium-pore zeolite ZSM-5 to the FCC catalyst (see Fig. 2.23), which is based on zeolite Y (large pore). Two routes lead from n-butane to isobutene (see Fig. 2.24) the isomerization/dehydrogenation pathway (upper route) is industrially practised. Finally, isobutene is also industrially obtained by dehydration of f-butyl alcohol, formed in the Halcon process (isobutane/propene to f-butyl alcohol/ propene oxide). The latter process has been mentioned as an alternative for the SMPO process (see Section 2.7). 

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