EFFECT OF THERMAL AGING UPON THE REGENERATION KINETICS OF A COKED CR2O3-AL2O3 CATALYST

The effect of thermal aging on the combustion kinetics of coke deposit ed on a commercial Cr2O3-Al2O3 catalyst has been studied. Catalyst agi ng was produced in several operation and regeneration cycles involving high temperatures and the alternate use of reducing or steam-containi ng oxidizing atmospheres. As a consequence of aging, the intrinsic reg eneration constant decreased, while the activation energy remained unc hanged compared with that of the fresh catalyst. This indicates that t he regeneration mechanism is not modified, and the effect of catalyst aging is to reduce the number of active regeneration sites on the surf ace through a partial sintering process.