Conversion of Bio-Oxygenates into Hydrocarbons in the Presence of a Commercial Pt–Re/Al2O3 Catalyst

It was found that the preliminarily reduced commercial platinum–rhenium catalyst PR-71 exhibited high activity in the conversion of ethanol into C4–C12 olefins and in the cross-condensation reactions of ethanol with glycerol, acetone, n-propanol, and isopropanol. Acetone and glycerol exhibited the highest reactivity in the cross-condensation reactions; this manifested itself in an increase in the total yield of the target fraction of C4–C12 hydrocarbons and in a more than 10-fold increase in the yield of products containing the odd numbers of carbon atoms, as compared with the conversion of individual ethanol. The structural studies performed by extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy showed that the high selectivity of PR-71 can be caused by the formation of bimetallic Pt–Re and Pt–Al clusters in the course of the prolonged preliminary reduction of the catalyst.