Promoting Effect of ZnO on the Catalytic Performance of CoZSM-5 for CO 2 -Assisted Dehydrogenation of Ethane

A series of ZnO-modified cobaltous ion exchanged ZSM-5 catalysts is prepared using incipient wetness impregnation and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N 2 adsorption, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DR UV-Vis), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), pyridine-adsorbed Fourier transform infrared (Py-IR) and Raman. Their catalytic performance towards CO 2 -assisted dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene has been evaluated. The addition of ZnO onto CoZSM-5 obviously improved the yield of ethylene as well as the conversion of CO 2 . The promoting effect is attributed to the good activity of ZnO for the reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reaction, which enhances the coupling between RWGS and ethane dehydrogenation.