Novel Ge/SiO2 Catalysts for Nonoxidative Dehydrogenation of Propane

This paper reports for the first time that the Ge/SiO2 catalyst can also exhibit dehydrogenation activity for propane dehydrogenation. This finding breaks our traditional wisdom about the part of Ge species playing in dehydrogenation of light alkanes. The study proves that metallic Ge and Ge suboxide species (such as Ge2+) are regarded as the active species for propane dehydrogenation instead of a promoter for noble metal catalysts. These active Ge species can be formed during dehydrogenation reaction, and the formation rate can be accelerated through reduction pretreatment. Notably, the dispersion of the active Ge species does have a significant effect on the dehydrogenation performance, and the agglomeration of the active Ge species caused by the over-reduction leads to a fast deactivation of the Ge/SiO2 catalyst.