Coke formation and gasification in the catalytic dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene

A detailed kinetic model for coke formation and gasification on an industrial potassium-promoted iron oxide catalyst during ethylbenzene dehydrogenation is developed. The kinetic parameters are estimated from a set of transient experiments in an electrobalance reactor, operated under differential conditions. The gasification was found to proceed through an edge recession mechanism. The coke formation occurs as a sequence of precursor formation followed by growth. The coupling of this coke formation/gasification model with a detailed model for the main and the side reactions allows an accurate prediction of the amount of CO2 formed in a multibed pilot-plant unit. The model is used to evaluate some recently proposed modifications to the process operation.