Propane dehydrogenation (PDH) to propene is an important alternative to oil-based cracking processes, to produce this industrially important platform chemical^1,2. The commercial PDH technologies utilizing Cr-containing (refs. ^3,4) or Pt-containing (refs. ^5–8) catalysts suffer from the toxicity of Cr(vi) compounds or the need to use ecologically harmful chlorine for catalyst regeneration⁹. Here, we introduce a method for preparation of environmentally compatible supported catalysts based on commercial ZnO. This metal oxide and a support (zeolite or common metal oxide) are used as a physical mixture or in the form of two layers with ZnO as the upstream layer. Supported ZnO_x species are in situ formed through a reaction of support OH groups with Zn atoms generated from ZnO upon reductive treatment above 550 °C. Using different complementary characterization methods, we identify the decisive role of defective OH groups for the formation of active ZnO_x species. For benchmarking purposes, the developed ZnO–silicalite-1 and an analogue of commercial K–CrO_x/Al₂O₃ were tested in the same setup under industrially relevant conditions at close propane conversion over about 400 h on propane stream. The developed catalyst reveals about three times higher propene productivity at similar propene selectivity.

Methane dry reforming (DRM) was investigated over highly active Ni catalysts with low metal content (2.5 wt %) supported on Mg-Al mixed oxide. The aim was to minimize carbon deposition and metal sites agglomeration on the working catalyst which are known to cause catalyst deactivation. The solids were characterized using N₂ adsorption, X-ray diffraction, temperature-programmed reduction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The results showed that MgO-Al₂O₃ solid solution phases are obtained when calcining Mg-Al hydrotalcite precursor in the temperature range of 550–800 °C. Such phases contribute to the high activity of catalysts with low Ni content even at low temperature (500 °C). Modifying the catalyst preparation with citric acid significantly slows the coking rate and reduces the size of large octahedrally coordinated NiO-like domains, which may easily agglomerate on the surface during DRM. The most effective Ni catalyst shows a stable DRM course over 60 h at high weight hourly space velocity with very low coke deposition. This is a promising result for considering such catalyst systems for further development of an industrial DRM technology.

SAPO-34 was prepared with a mixture of three templates containing triethylamine, tetraethylammonium hydroxide, and morpholine, which leads to unique properties for support and production cost reduction. Meanwhile, Cu/SAPO-34, Fe/SAPO-34, and Cu-Fe/SAPO-34 were prepared through the ion-exchanged method in aqueous solution and used for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO_x with NH₃. The physical structure and original crystal of SAPO-34 are maintained in the catalysts. Cu-Fe/SAPO-34 catalysts exhibit high NO_x conversion in a broad temperature window, even in the presence of H₂O. The physicochemical properties of synthesized samples were further characterized by various methods, including XRD, FE-SEM, EDS, N₂ adsorption-desorption isotherms, UV-Vis-DRS spectroscopy, NH₃-TPD, H₂-TPR, and EPR. The best catalyst, 3Cu-1Fe/SAPO-34 exhibited high NO_x conversion (> 90%) in a wide temperature window of 250–600 °C, even in the presence of H₂O. In comparison with mono-metallic samples, the 3Cu-1Fe/SAPO-34 catalyst had more isolated Cu²⁺ ions and additional oligomeric Fe³⁺ active sites, which mainly contributed to the higher capacity of NH₃ and NO_x adsorption by the enhancement of the number of acid sites as well as its greater reducibility. Therefore, this synergistic effect between iron and copper in the 3Cu-1Fe/SAPO-34 catalyst prompted higher catalytic performance in more extensive temperature as well as hydrothermal stability after iron incorporation.

Inserting adjacent Mn ³⁺ /Mn ²⁺ and VO ³⁺ /VO ²⁺ redox couples in Ce _1−x Ti _x O ₂ improves catalytic performance.