HYDROGENOLYSIS OF 2,3-DIMETHYLBUTANE ON SUPPORTED RUTHENIUM, NICKEL, COBALT, AND IRON

The hydrogenolysis of 2,3-dimethylbutane was studied over supported catalysts of ruthenium, nickel, cobalt, and iron, some containing magnesia as a structural promoter, in a differential reactor system. The selectivity data were fitted to equations derived from reaction networks involving reversible dissociative chemisorption of the hydrocarbons and irreversible rupture of the carbon-carbon bonds of the adsorbed species. In the sequence-ruthenium, nickel, cobalt, iron-the product distribution shifts toward smaller hydrocarbons, CH4 being the principal product on iron. On ruthenium tertiary carbon atoms are relatively stable, but on nickel and cobalt they are no more stable than secondary carbon atoms. At the temperatures used in these experiments, splitting of the adsorbed species was usually not slow compared to desorption. © 1979.