Oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane over RE-NiO (RE=La, Nd, Sm, Gd) catalysts

RE-NiO (RE=La, Nd, Sm, Gd) catalysts were prepared by a modified sol-gel method and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), BET surface area analysis, H2 temperature-programmed reduction (H2-TPR), and O2 temperature-programmed desorption (O2-TPD). The oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane (ODHE) to ethylene was applied to evaluate catalytic performance of the samples. The results showed that the doping of RE affected the physicochemical properties of the catalysts. The strong interaction between Gd and NiO played an important role in the lessened reducibility and the distribution of adsorbed oxygen species, consequently influenced the catalytic performance. The best yield to ethylene of 29% was obtained over the Gd-NiO catalyst with an ethane conversion of 56%.