Reductive dehydration of butanone to butane over Pt/γ-Al2O3 and HZSM-5

•A 99% selectivity of butane from butanone was obtained.•Bifunctional mechanism permits hydrogenation and dehydration of butanone.•Minimal CC bond scission occurs.

We show that butanone can be reacted to form n-butane in an isothermal reactor containing a 1 wt.% Pt/γ-Al2O3 and an HZSM-5 catalyst (total mass of 12–400 mg, Si/Al = 11.5) below 160 °C with up to 99% selectivity and 67% yield. The catalyst loading (12–400 mg) and temperature (100–250 °C) were varied to obtain primary products whose selectivities decreased with conversion and secondary/tertiary products whose selectivities increased with conversion. As conversion increased, the selectivities of butanol and butene decreased, showing the formation of butane from butanone through a series reaction pathway: butanone → 2-butanol → butene → butane. Butane selectivity increased as the temperature was increased from 100 to 200 °C when compared at similar conversions due to higher dehydration rates over the zeolite. Processing ketones at low temperatures over bifunctional catalysts may be an efficient means of obtaining high yields of stable paraffins from reactive oxygenates.

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