Oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene with carbon dioxide over zeolite-supported iron oxide catalysts

Oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene with carbon dioxide was carried out over ZSM-5 zeolite-supported iron oxide catalysts. In the presence of carbon dioxide, ethylbenzene was predominantly converted into styrene by oxidation. It was found that carbon dioxide in this reaction plays a role as a soft oxidant to greatly improve catalytic activity. An active phase for the dehydrogenation with carbon dioxide was suggested as rather reduced and isolated magnetite-like phase having oxygen deficiency in zeolite matrix.