Highly effective oxidative cracking of n-butane in light olefins on a novel cobalt catalyst

A Co-N on alumina catalyst yielded high performance in the oxidative cracking of n-butane to ethylene and propylene. A total of 47.7 wt.% yield of olefins including 31% of ethylene and 13% of propylene were obtained at 82% of n-butane conversion at 600 °C. Catalyst characterization by SEM, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), XRD and TPR studies suggested that a cobalt oxynitride phase was formed. This resulted in lowering the oxygen binding energy leading to enrichment in mobile, low energy, oxygen species that significantly accelerates the formation of lower olefins.