Shale gas revolution has opened opportunities for conversion of light alkanes to value-added chemicals like ethylene and propylene. Literature suggests the use of bifunctional catalyst, consisting of a solid acid such as HZSM-5 and a metal oxide for direct conversion [7]. Here, we demonstrate a catalyst consisting of a novel Mo oxide-doped sulfated hafnia (SH) solid acid to convert ethane and propane.

Mo-SH was synthesized via impregnation and characterized using BET, XPS, SEM-EDS, DRIFTS, NH₃-TPD, XANES and TPO. Catalyst acidity was measured with NH₃-TPD and DRIFTS. SEM-EDS and XPS were used to ensure the target loading of Mo on SH. XANES showed that Mo oxides are converted to Mo carbides with time, which are known as the active sites for dehydrogenation, the initial reaction step. Selectivity for ethane is 40–50 % to ethylene and for propane is 70–90 % to propylene at 550−600°C.No significant deactivation was observed for ∼16 h on stream.

页岩气革命为将轻烷烃转化为增值化学品（例如乙烯和丙烯）提供了机会。文献建议使用由固体酸（例如HZSM-5）和金属氧化物组成的双官能催化剂直接转化[7]。在这里，我们展示了一种由新型的氧化钼掺杂的氧化ha（SH）固体酸组成的催化剂，可转化乙烷和丙烷。

通过浸渍合成Mo-SH，并使用BET，XPS，SEM-EDS，DRIFTS，NH ₃ -TPD，XANES和TPO对其进行表征。用NH ₃ -TPD和DRIFTS测量催化剂的酸度。SEM-EDS和XPS用于确保Mo在SH上的目标负载。XANES表明，随着时间的推移，Mo氧化物会转变为Mo碳化物，这被称为脱氢的活性位点（初始反应步骤）。在550-600°C下，乙烷对乙烯的选择性为40-50％，丙烷对丙烯的选择性为70-90％。在生产过程中约16小时没有观察到明显的失活。