OXIDATIVE DEHYDROGENATION OF ETHYLBENZENE TO STYRENE

The results of a kinetic study of the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene over an organic catalyst (pyrolyzed polymerized acrylonitrile) are reported. The reaction is found to be second order in ethylbenzene and zero order in oxygen with an activation energy of 76.5 kJ/mol. The rate equation is: documentclass{article}pagestyle{empty}begin{document}$ - r(mol/min .g,catalyst) = 3.2 times 10^9 exp [ - 76,500/RT] cdot C_{EtB}^2 cdot C_{O_2 }^0 $end{document} where R = 8.31 J/niol.K and concentration (CEtB) is expressed as mol/L. The catalyst is more active than conventional metal oxide catalysts and appears to be quite stable under reaction conditions. The results suggest that, using the PPAN catalyst, it may be possible to reduce the operating temperature of the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to about 250‐300°C, thereby avoiding some of the problems of the present high temperature process. Copyright © 1979 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering