Floyd E. Farha

A Mossbauer Investigation of a Platinum-Tin Paraffin Dehydrogenation Catalyst

During the development of a steam active paraffin dehydrogenation catalyst, it was observed that the addition of tin to platinum supported on zinc aluminate had a dramatic effect on the stability and selectivity of the catalyst (1,2). Without tin the catalyst activity declined rapidly with time requiring frequent reactivation with an oxygen-containing gas to burn off accumulated coke. The role of the tin was not known. Tin on zinc aluminate is inactive for paraffin dehydrogenation, whereas platinum on zinc aluminate is an active, albeit short-lived, paraffin dehydrogenation catalyst.