LAUSR

Abstract The present work highlights the synthesis of styrene from ethylbenzene dehydrogenation by coupling with reverse water gas shift reaction (RWGSR) and ammonia synthesis reactions over high surface area Al 2 O 3 supported molybdenum nitride (γ-Mo 2 N) catalyst. γ-Mo 2 N was prepared by in-situ thermal decomposition of molybdenum hexamethylenetetramine complex and the support high surface area Al 2 O 3 (HSA) was prepared by sol-gel method. Different weight loadings of γ-Mo 2 N (10, 20 and 30) supported on HSA catalysts were systematically characterized by using powder XRD, N 2 physisorption, H 2 - TPR, XPS and TEM analysis. XRD, TEM and normalized BET surface area analysis reveal highly dispersed nitride species over HSA surface. The synthesized catalysts have been studied for ethylbenzene dehydrogenation reaction using CO 2 and N 2 as feed gases with different percentage compositions. It was found that CO 2 rich N 2 feed gas favors higher ethylbenzene conversion due to RWGSR and N 2 rich CO 2 favors higher selectivity to styrene due to ammonia synthesis. EB dehydrogenation along with RWGSR and ammonia synthesis reactions come along and privileged the formation of higher styrene yields.