CATALYST CHARACTERIZATION - VARIATION OF SEVERAL PARAMETERS WITH THE DEACTIVATION REGENERATION CYCLES

A Cr2O3/Al2O3 catalyst has been used for the 1-butene dehydrogenation reaction in a fixed bed reactor and the structural characteristics of the catalyst during deactivation/regeneration cycles have been studied. The structural characteristics show very small variations between fresh and regenerated catalyst, but the deactivated one presents clear differences and a lower porosity value. In the range of carbon concentration studied (0-8%), the structural changes are independent of the reaction conditions and they are only influenced by the degree of deposition present in the pellet. For this catalyst subject to the 1-butene dehydrogenation the porosity and the specific area can be related to the carbon concentration present in the sample by means of the equations: epsilon = 0.417-0.0145 C and A(e) x 10(-6) = 99.67-6.35 C.