Dehydrogenation of Cumene to α-Methylstyrene over Tungsten-Containing Porous Ceramic Converters

It was shown that the method for the incorporation of a catalytic tungsten component into a porous ceramic converter has a major effect on the activity and selectivity of cumene-to-AMS dehydrogenation. Specifically, the activity of a surface-modified tungsten-containing converter exceeded by more than 2.5 orders of magnitude the activity of a converter with tungsten incorporated by thermochemical sintering of the initial blend. It was further found that the performance of hydrocarbon dehydrogenation in converter channels nearly doubles that of the process occurring over a granular catalyst with an equivalent composition. It was also demonstrated that the process performance can be enhanced by removing extra-pure hydrogen from the reaction system through a palladium-containing membrane. Cumene dehydrogenation in catalytic converters was identified as a zero-order reaction.