Formation of ilmenite-type CoTiO3 on TiO2 and its performance in oxidative dehydrogenation of cyclohexane with molecular oxygen

Ilmenite-type CoTiO3 supported on TiO2 was prepared and their catalytic activities were tested for oxidative dehydrogenation of cyclohexane to produce benzene. The catalyst was characterized by XRD, FE-SEM, HR-TEM, XPS, TPR and XANES. XRD reveals the formation of ilmenite-type CoTiO3 on TiO2. The catalyst showed 87.8% cyclohexane conversion with 89.2% benzene selectivity at 450 C in a continuous fixed bed down flow reactor at atmospheric pressure. The influence of different reaction parameters like temperature, gas hour space velocity (GHSV), Co loading was studied in detail. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.