Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Ethane to Ethylene over Mesoporous Ni-Based Catalysts

Abstract Mesoporous nickel oxide was prepared using sodium dodecyl sulfate as the template and urea as the hydrolysis agent. The method was extended successfully to the synthesis of a mesoporous multicomponent Ni-based catalyst, NiMgO. The mesostructured catalysts were compared with a nanosized NiO catalyst prepared by a sol-gel process. These catalysts were used for oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene. The meso-NiO showed higher ethylene selectivity than the nano-NiO at the same ethane conversion. The temperature range for the reaction on meso-NiO was larger, which gave a higher ethylene yield. The catalytic performance of meso-NiO was improved by Mg modification. On meso-NiMgO, a 56.6% ethane conversion with 30.1% ethylene yield was obtained at 450 oC, C 2 H 6 :O 2 :N 2 = 1:1:4, and GHSV = 18000 ml/(g·h). This ethylene yield was much higher than the best obtained with nano-NiO (15.9%) or meso-NiO (22.5%).