Comparison between cobalt and cobalt–platinum supported on zeolite NaY: Cobalt reducibility and their catalytic performance for butane hydrogenolysis

This work investigated reducibility of cobalt species in monometallic Co/NaY and bimetallic CoPt/NaY catalysts with various Co loading (1, 6 and 10 wt.%) and fixed Pt loading (1 wt.%). The form and environment of Co species after reduction was determined by X-ray absorption spectroscopy including X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopies. The cobalt species in the mono- and bimetallic catalyst with Co loading of 1 wt.% was not reducible whereas those with Co loading of 6 and 10 wt.% were partially reduced. The extent of reduction increased with Co loading and enhanced by the presence of Pt. Catalytic performance for n-butane hydrogenolysis mono- and bimetallic catalysts were compared. The higher extent of Co reduction in 6CoPt/NaY and 10CoPt/NaY resulted in higher conversions than the monometallic counterpart. Sequential hydrogenolysis was favored on the monometallic catalysts because methane was the only product. The presence of Pt suppressed such reaction resulting in ethane and propane. The effect of Pt on such effect was most prominent in 6CoPt/NaY.