Ultrasmall PtCo Intermetallic Compounds Confined in Silicalite-1 for Highly Productive Propane Dehydrogenation

Non-oxidative propane dehydrogenation (PDH) to propene is the basis of several technologies developed for meeting the increasing demand for this olefin. Given the high cost of commercial Pt-based catalysts, a promising direction for improving the economics of propene production by PDH is to reduce Pt content without sacrificing high propene productivity and selectivity. We report that the 1Co-0.1Pt@silicalite-1(1Co-0.1Pt@S-1) catalyst, with only 0.1 wt% Pt and 1 wt% Co, outperforms an analog of commercial Pt–Sn/Al$_2$O$_3$ in terms of activity and on-stream stability despite the approximately 5-fold lower Pt loading. Its performance is also remarkable when compared to other state-of-the-art Pt-containing catalysts. The high activity of the 1Co-0.1Pt@S-1 catalyst is attributed to the presence of ultrasmall PtCo intermetallic compounds formed under reaction conditions. The developed catalyst also demonstrated high on-stream stability, with an apparent deactivation rate constant of just 4 × 10$^{−4}$ h$^{−1}$ determined over 110 h on stream at approximately 90% of the equilibrium propane conversion at 500 °C using a feed with 90 vol % propane.