Construction of flower spherical Cr–Ce/ZSM-5 catalyst with rich surface structure and study on CO2-assisted ethane dehydrogenation performance

In this paper, we used kaolinite tailings as raw materials to design and prepare ZSM-5 zeolite with “flower ball” morphology. Through the functional design of the material, Cr–Ce/ZSM-5 catalysts were prepared for CO 2 -assisted ethane oxidative dehydrogenation reaction (CO 2 -ODH). The folds and grooves on the surface of the “flower ball” ZSM-5 carrier act as a good anchor site for the loading of the active components, thus better anchoring Cr and Ce metal oxides , and leading to a strong interaction between the active component and the carrier. The 5%Cr–10%Ce/ZSM-5 catalyst exhibited the best catalytic performance, the conversion rate of C 2 H 6 and the selectivity of C 2 H 4 can always maintain the initial 64% and 80% within 30 h stability test at 800 °C. The existence of abundant Cr 6+ species in catalyst strengthens the binding ability of the catalyst and active oxygen species and promotes the formation-gasification process of carbon deposits on surface of the catalyst.