Ce_0.95Cr_0.05O₂and Ce_0.97Cu_0.03O₂: Active, selective and stable catalysts for selective hydrogen combustion

Ceria-based materials are promising solid oxygen reservoirs for propane oxidative dehydrogenation. The ceria lattice oxygen can selectively combust hydrogen from the dehydrogenation mixture at 550 °C. This shifts the dehydrogenation equilibrium to the desired products side, generates heat aiding the endothermic dehydrogenation, and simplifies product separation. The process is also safer, since it avoids mixing O2 and H2 at high temperatures. While ceria itself is unselective, its catalytic properties can be tuned by doping. We study the effects of dopant type, concentration and the crystallite size on the catalytic properties. Doping with Cr or Cu increases both the selectivity and activity of the ceria, albeit that propane combustion also increases linearly with the Cu-concentration. The Cu-doped catalysts give selectivities up to 95% and combust up to 8% of the hydrogen feed. The best results are obtained with Cr-doped ceria, with selectivities up to 98%, and combustion of up to 15% of the hydrogen feed. The Cr-doped catalysts are stable in the reductive gas feed, and no extra coke is formed when the catalyst is subjected to an extra 10 min in the dehydrogenation mixture, after the hydrogen combustion reaction has stopped. This robustness is essential for industrial dehydrogenation applications.