Partial oxidation of propane on ceria- and alumina-supported platinum catalysts

Three Pt/CeO2 catalysts and Pt/Al2O3 catalyst were studied for partial oxidation of propane. The 1% Pt/CeO 2 (C) catalyst which was prepared using CeO2 prepared by the decomposition technique showed the highest propane conversion and hydrogen selectivity. The 1% Pt/Al2O3 showed better performance than 1% Pt/CeO2 (C).; The effect of flow rate was studied for 0.01 g and 0.02 g of 1% Pt/CeO 2 (C) and 1% Pt/Al2O3. Oxygen is totally consumed at all flow rates, even at 0.01 g catalyst loading for both catalysts. The total oxidation of propane is taking place first followed by steam reforming along with water gas shift and reverse Boudouard reactions. Water gas shift dominates over reverse Boudouard and is very close to equilibrium on 1% Pt/CeO 2 (C). This indicates that ceria promotes water gas shift, whereas reverse Boudouard dominates over water gas shift on 1% Pt/Al2O3.