Synthesis and characterization of mesoporous silica supported Pt catalysts for Decalin dehydrogenation

Abstract

Hydrogen, potentially very attractive energy source as its combustion forms only water in addition to energy. Hydrogen is the cleanest source of fuel. Decalin consists of considerable high hydrogen contents of 7.3 wt% and 64.8 kg H₂ /m³ is an excellent mobile storage source for hydrogen. In this work, SBA-15 and carbon modified SBA-15 supported 1wt% Pt catalysts were synthesized and characterized for vapour phase dehydrogenation of decalin. About 154 x 10^-6 molecules of hydrogen/ Pt molecule per sec with 90 % decalin conversion were observed at 593 K. Interestingly, decalin conversion increases with reaction temperature. The characterization techniques such as XRD, N₂-physisorption, H₂ -TPR, and H₂ -chemisorption studies were used to study physico-chemical properties of synthesized catalysts. Pt/SBA-15 catalyst is found to be stable for 10 h during time-on- stream study which clearly demonstrates the robustness of catalytic system.