【Frontiers in HaiChuan Chemical Technology】Breakthrough achieved in research on propane dehydrogenation catalysts

Thread Content

April 22, 2025 　Collect 　According to Sinochem News, recently Fuzhou University, Sinopec (Shanghai) Research Institute of Petrochemicals Co., Ltd., and the Shanghai Institute of Advanced Study of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have collaborated in the field of propane dehydrogenation catalyst research and made progress. The relevant research findings were published in Science. 　　Currently, the shale gas revolution and the \"dual carbon\" strategy have driven rapid progress in propane dehydrogenation technology, making it the mainstream method for the targeted production of propylene. Supported Pt clusters are the mainstream catalysts for propane dehydrogenation technology. However, Pt clusters are highly prone to sintering and deactivation under harsh operating conditions; it is therefore necessary to frequently re-disperse the Pt particles using chlorine in an oxygen-chlorine mixed atmosphere, while simultaneously burning off carbon deposits, in order to restore their catalytic activity. This not only leads to equipment corrosion and the formation of chlorinated pollutants, but also results in significant carbon emissions. 　　Focusing on the development of renewable Pt-based catalysts without chlorine, this research team proposed a simple and efficient method for preparing propane dehydrogenation catalysts. The catalyst prepared by this method exhibits dynamic reversible conversion between clusters and single atoms in the \"dehydrogenation reaction–carbon burning regeneration\" cycle. Importantly, even after continuous exposure to an oxidizing environment at 800°C for up to 10 days, the Pt species within the catalyst pores remained stable, enabling more than a hundred full regenerations in a chlorine-free oxidizing atmosphere. 　　This research not only provides a scientific basis for the preparation of Pt catalysts for alkane dehydrogenation, but also opens up new avenues for the development of metal cluster catalysts resistant to sintering at high temperatures.