Ethane and propane prodn. - by hydrogenolysis of higher hydrocarbon cpds. on noble metal catalyst

摘要

Prodn. of ethane and propane is effected by hydrogenolysis of a feed comprising 4-20C paraffins and/or naphthenes at a temp. of 100-500 degrees C, a total pressure of 1-120 bars, an LHSV of 0.1-100 and an H2/feed molar ratio of 0.5-50. The catalyst comprises (a) 100 pts. wt. of a support comprising Al2O3, SiO2, ThO2, ZrO2 or MgO ad (b) 0.1-10 (pref. 0.3-4) pts. wt. of Ru, Rh, Ir or Os. The products can be steam-cracked to produce ethylene and propylene. The process is highly selective, e.g. giving 32-91% conversions with selectivities of 35-84% for ethane and 11-31% for propane.