The negative effect of ceria on the propene selectivity for isopropanol decomposition over phosphated and phosphate-free ceria/alumina catalysts

Consequences of loading level of ceria (5, 10 and 20-wt%) on the structural, textural and surface acid–base properties as well as the impacts on catalytic activity towards isopropanol decomposition on pure and phosphated alumina is described. The obtained results indicated that composites mainly kept γ–alumina structure and the addition of ceria and/or phosphate has no effect on the bulk structure of alumina. Textural characteristics show that the phosphated composites have higher surface area than phosphate free samples. Pyridine adsorption as followed by FTIR indicated the presence of Lewis acid sites with different strengths. Moreover, results of gas phase decomposition of isopropanol show a systematic inhibition in propene selectivity based on ceria ratio. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/2193-1801-2-619) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.