(616d) Radio Frequency Heating for Catalytic Propane Dehydrogenation

Here, we demonstrate radio frequency heating of susceptor nanomaterials coupled with conventional catalysts to enable a new class of heterogenous, endothermic catalytic reactors with localized, volumetric heating. Heating in industrial scale catalytic reactors is carried out in fuel-fired furnaces which contributes to CO₂ emissions and requires substantial infrastructure. This work uses the power-to-chemicals route where radio frequency fields (1-200 MHz) are utilized to volumetrically heat up the RF-responsive carbon nanomaterials integrated with the catalyst; by using renewable electricity sources, the greenhouse gas emissions are reduced. In-house built applicators were used for heating the catalyst to very high temperatures (~550 ^oC). We demonstrated the use of one such applicator to drive a highly endothermic propane dehydrogenation reaction on Pt/Alumina catalyst and the RF susceptor is carbon nanotubes. The propane conversion and propylene yield using RF heating was comparable to oven heating at 500 ^oC. After each reaction cycle, the catalyst was successfully regenerated by RF heating. This setup can be used in place of conventional catalytic reactors enabling distributed manufacturing of chemicals.