Conversion of ethylene to propylene over NiO-MoO3/Al2O3 catalyst

The effect of operating conditions of ethylene conversion to propylene on the yield of products, activity and stability of NiO-MoO 3 /Al 2 O 3 catalyst was studied. The catalytic tests were carried out in a fixed-bed flow reactor at temperatures of 100-250 °C, atmospheric pressure and weight hourly space velocity of 0.25-2 h -1 . The maximum propylene yield of 57 wt.% is achieved at 150 °C and 0.25 h -1 . Under these conditions the degree of ethylene conversion reaches 90 %. The kinetic model for the process has been proposed, which described the formation of the main reaction products. It has been shown that carbonaceous deposits are formed on the catalyst surface during the ethylene conversion. The amount of these deposits increases with increasing temperature and contact time. Moreover some Mo species change the oxidation state from +6 to +4/+5.