A study of platinum supported on tungstated zirconia catalysts Original Research Article

The reaction of n-butane with hydrogen at 573 K was studied over platinum supported on tungstated zirconia (PtWZ). A higher Pt dispersion increases the selectivity toward hydrogenolysis products and overall activity. The % coke after 90 min on stream at a H2/n-C4 ratio of 3 was found to be less than 0.1 wt.-% in all cases. The presence of Brønsted acid sites upon reduction is confirmed by diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy of adsorbed pyridine. The WO3/ZrO2 (WZ) support consists of a mixture of tetragonal and monoclinic zirconia and tetragonal tungsten oxide regardless of the presence of platinum.