Supported VO x catalysts are promising for propane dehydrogenation (PDH) due to relatively superior activity and stable performance upon regeneration.However, the nature of active sites and reaction mechanism during PDH over VO x based catalysts remains elusive. This paper describes the understanding of active species through attaining various fraction of V 5+ /V 4+ /V 3+ ions by adjusting surface vanadium density on an alumina support. The results presented a close relationship between E a /TOF and the fraction of V 3+ ion, indicating that the V 3+ was more active for PDH. In situ DRIFTS showed the same strong adsorbed species during both propane dehydrogenation and propylene hydrogenation. The results indicated that such intermediate may correspond with V species containing C=C double bond i.e. V-C 3 H 5 , and a reaction mechanism was proposed accordingly.

Compared to metallic platinum and chromium oxide, zinc oxide (ZnO) is an inexpensive and low-toxic alternative for the direct dehydrogenation of propane (PDH). However, besides the limited activity, conventional zinc-based catalysts suffer from serious deactivation, because of ZnO reduction and/or carbon deposition. Considering the high cost of platinum, reducing the amount of platinum in the catalyst is always desirable. This paper describes a catalyst comprising ZnO modified by trace platinum supported on Al 2 O 3 , where the Zn 2+ species serve as active sites and platinum acts as a promoter. This catalyst contains less platinum than traditional platinum-based catalysts and is much more stable than conventional ZnO catalyst or commercial chromium-based systems during PDH. It is proposed that ZnO was promoted to a stronger Lewis acid by platinum; thus, easier C−H activation and accelerated H 2 desorption were achieved.

A probability-based computational screening study has successfully identified an optimal bimetallic alloy (Pt3In) for the propane dehydrogenation reaction.