Preparation and Characterization of Sisal Fibre Carbon Catalyst for Propane Oxidative Dehydrogenation

Abstract

In this work, porous sisal fibre carbon (SFC) with high-surface areas was prepared from the sisal fibre calcination process using KOH as chemical activation. The ratio of KOH/C to calcination temperature of the SFC catalyst was optimised, and it was found that 1SFC-900, with the KOH/C ratio of 1 and calcination temperature of 900 °C, was the most suitable propane oxidative dehydrogenation (PODH) catalyst. Under optimal reaction conditions, the propane conversion rate was 53.7%, and the propylene selectivity was 66.4%. The specific activity normalised by the surface areas and other physical properties and the propylene SFC selectivity, including the surface oxygen content, I_D/I_G and sp³/sp² ratio of carbon, were investigated. The presence of the surface oxygen groups was beneficial for the specific activity but adverse for the selectivity. That is, the higher sp³/sp² ratio in the defects will increase the PODH selectivity. The prepared SFC was green and low in cost, with biomass as a raw material. In short, the SFC was a potential effective catalyst for the PODH.