Regeneration of a Commercial Catalyst for the Dehydrogenation of Isobutane to Isobutene

In the chemical and petrochemical industries, dehydrogenating of hydrocarbons to olefins as raw materials for the manufacture of various chemical products is an important economic issue. So, here, the redispersion and regeneration of a commercial Pt‐Sn/γ‐Al2O3 catalyst utilized for the conversion of isobutane to isobutene was studied. First, in order to regenerate the deactivated commercial catalyst unloaded from a commercial reactor, coke burning under controlled conditions was carried out. Then, to redisperse the platinum on the surface of the catalyst, a HCl solution (injected through a syringe pump) and Cl2 were passed over the catalytic bed at specific flow rates and temperatures. Evaluation tests carried out over the regenerated catalyst prove that the regenerated catalyst has similar conversion, selectivity, and structural characteristics as compared to the fresh one. The regeneration of deactivated Pt‐Sn/γ‐Al2O3 catalyst utilized for the dehydrogenation of isobutane to isobutene in a commercial‐scale plant is presented. The activity of the commercial Pt/γ‐Al2O3 catalyst is recovered after the regeneration process and the selectivity of the regenerated catalyst for the production of isobutene is similar to that of the fresh one.