Characterization of various zinc oxide catalysts and their activity in the dehydration-dehydrogenation of isobutanol

Mono and bifunctional zinc oxide catalysts were prepared to study their activity in the catalytic conversion of isobutanol. The prepared catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis and nitrogen adsorption mea- surements. The conversion of isobutanol was taken as a model reaction to measure the catalytic activity of the prepared oxide catalysts. The overall con- version yield of competitive dehydration-dehydrogenation reactions of isobuta- nol was found to be higher over the binary oxide catalysts than over the single oxide one at all reaction temperature within the range 250-400 °C. The binary oxide catalysts were more selective for isobutene, as the predominant dehydra- ted product. The single oxide catalyst exhibited higher selectivity towards iso- butyraldehyde as the dehydrogenated product, and the selectivity increased with increasing reaction temperature.