Highly Effective Direct Dehydrogenation of Propane to Propylene by Microwave Catalysis at Low Temperature over Co−Sn/NC Microwave Catalyst

The direct catalytic dehydrogenation of propane (C 3 H 8 ) to value‐added propylene (C 3 H 6 ) has attracted much attention. However, direct dehydrogenation of C 3 H 8 to C 3 H 6 with outstanding catalytic performance at low temperature is a great challenge. Herein, we report a new approach for the direct dehydrogenation of C 3 H 8 to C 3 H 6 at low temperature by microwave catalysis over non‐precious Co−Sn/NC microwave catalyst. It is found that the microwave direct catalytic dehydrogenation of C 3 H 8 over Co−Sn/NC microwave catalyst at low temperature (450 °C) is highly efficient. The C 3 H 8 conversion is 15 % and the C 3 H 6 selectivity is 75 % at 450 °C. Comparatively, the C 3 H 8 conversion and C 3 H 6 selectivity were respectively only 3.2 % and 67.8 % for Co−Sn/NC catalyst at 450 °C in the conventional reaction mode under identical conditions. Furthermore, the microwave catalyst does not show visible change after tested for 180 min. Importantly, the apparent activation energy of Co−Sn/NC catalyst drop from 59.58 kJ/mol in the conventional reaction mode to 20.98 kJ/mol in microwave catalytic reaction mode, which suggests a significant microwave direct catalytic effect. This work provides a novel approach for highly effective direct dehydrogenation of C 3 H 8 to C 3 H 6 by microwave irradiation at low temperature.