Dehydrogenation of methylcyclohexene on a PtNaY catalyst. Study of kinetics and deactivation

The kinetics of the dehydrogenation of methylcyclohexene to toluene on a PtNaY zeolite and the deactivation of the catalyst have been studied. Kinetic models for the dehydrogenation process and for catalyst decay have been established. By comparing the rate of dehydrogenation of methylcyclohexane and methylcyclohexene it has been found that, on this catalyst, the slowest step in the overall dehydrogenation process is the dehydrogenation of methylcyclohexane to methylcyclohexene, followed by the desorption of toluene from the metal. The deactivation of the catalyst is about six times higher when the reactant is methylcyclohexene instead of methylcyclohexane.