Selective Oxidative Cracking of n‐Butane to Light Olefins over Hexagonal Boron Nitride with Limited Formation of COx

• DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201901663
• Publication Date: 2019-08-19T12:49:45Z
• Authors: William P. McDermott; Juan Venegas; Ive Hermans
• Keywords: Butane; Propane; Alkane; Propene

In recent years, hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) has emerged as an unexpected catalyst for the oxidative dehydrogenation of alkanes. Here, versatility hBN was extended to alkane cracking chemistry by investigating production ethylene and propylene from n-butane. Cracking selectivity primarily controlled ratio n-butane O2 within reactant feed. Under -lean conditions, increasing temperature led increased decreased COx . addition surface-mediated chemistry, homogeneous gas-phase reactions likely contributed observed product distribution, a reaction mechanism proposed based on these observations. The showed good stability under conditions 100 h time-on-stream while maintaining high propylene.