Investigate of the optimum process conditions for Co/HZSM-5 catalyzed propane dehydrogenation by a response surface method

Co/HZSM-5 catalyst was fabricated for catalytic dehydrogenation of propane to propylene, which was pretreated to allow the reaction to react at low temperatures. A response surface approach was employed to examine the effect of process conditions on the reaction. The morphological and oxidative performance of Co/HZSM-5 was characterized by XRD, XPS, SEM, NH₃-TPD, H₂-TPR, and nitrogen physical absorption-desorption. Besides, the in-situ catalyst performance was evaluated by a fixed-bed reactor. Combining the actual experimental conditions, the optimal process conditions parameters obtained by the response surface method were as follows: a reaction temperature of 461 °C, a Co loading of 2.4%, and a GHSV of 4300 h⁻¹. At this point, the propylene yield reached 27.7% and the corresponding propylene selectivity was up to 93.8%.