The Catalytic Activity of Zinc Oxide Supported on Aerosil for C-H Activation of Light Alkanes


Arndt S., Uysal B., AKSU Y., Otremba T., Schomaecker R.

Proceedings of the DGMK-Conference “Production and Use of light Olefins, Dresden, Germany, 28 - 30 September 2009, pp.39-46

  • Publication Type: Conference Paper / Full Text
  • City: Dresden
  • Country: Germany
  • Page Numbers: pp.39-46
  • Akdeniz University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Thus the economical interest inthe conversion of methane into products for  chemical 
industry is high. The oxidative coupling of methane is a direct way to achieve this aim, but 
this process has notreached commercial application, since all knowncatalysts are either nor
active and selectiveenough or they suffer from  severe deactivation. Our recent 
investigationsshowed that zinc oxides, pure and doped, might be suitable catalysts, but they 
also suffer from sever sintering and consequently severe deactivation. 
We therefore investigated the activity of zinc oxide supported on zinc silicate, synthesized
from Aerosil, as we consider zincsilicate asthemost promising supportfor zinc oxide. The 
C-H activation reactions were the oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) andthe oxidative 
dehydrogenation of ethane (ODE) and propane (ODP). 
These threereactions allow the investigation of C-H activation for similar hydrocarbons over 
a broad temperature range.