Coupling Ethane Dehydrogenation with Benzene Alkylation Over Bifunctional Pt Supported HZSM-5 Catalyst

The efficient conversion of ethane has attracted more and more attention because of the shale gas revolution. The coupling of ethane dehydrogenation (EDH) and benzene alkylation over the 1.5Pt/HZSM-5 realize high activity close to the thermodynamic equilibrium of EDH at 500 ? and 0.9 bar ethane partial pressure. Meanwhile, the coupled reaction shows long-term stability during 22 h with a slightly decreased ethane conversion of 0.03% per hour and as high as 42% selectivity of ethylbenzene. Based on various characterization, including XRD, HR-TEM, NH3-TPD, Py-IR, TGA, it is confirmed that the coupling reaction could convert ethylene, formed by EDH over Pt sites, to ethylbenzene via benzene alkylation over Bronsted acidic sites (BAS) subsequently, and suppressing the sintering of Pt species and coke deposition induced by aromatization and deep dehydrogenation, resulting in high activity and long-time steady state.{GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT }