New catalyst for oxidative dehydrogenation of propane to propylene This company’s Insights platform is connected to the new temperature… By Scott Jenkins | May 1, 2021 Conventional propane dehydrogenation (PDH) is an endothermic, equilibrium-limited reaction that requires high temperatures to achieve commercially viable per-pass yields of propylene. Oxidative propane dehydrogenation has the potential to form propylene at much lower temperatures and more selectively by controlling the reaction kinetically, rather than thermodynamically. However, it has proven difficult to prevent large amounts of propane combustion and to generate sufficient amounts of propylene. A new tandem catalyst designed and developed by researchers at Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.; www.northwestern.edu) has generated good results in oxidatively dehydrogenating propane to propylene at selectivities of 75% and single-pass propane conversion rates of 40% at temperatures of 450°C (compared to ~600°C for conventional PDH).