Dataset for Selective Low-Temperature Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Propane over Alumina-Supported Copper Nanoparticles with O2 and CO2 as Oxidants

This dataset contains relevant raw and processed data supporting the paper entitled:
"Selective Low-Temperature Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Propane over Alumina-Supported Copper Nanoparticles with O2 and CO2 as Oxidants".
Molecules, 2026; 31(4):626, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules31040626

Abstract:
This study reports on the performance of alumina-supported copper-based catalysts in the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane, with copper dispersed on two distinct commercial aluminium oxide supports made of micro- and nanosized alumina, respectively. The activity and selectivity of the two catalysts was investigated at temperatures between 250 and 550 °C. At a propane-to-O2 ratio of 1:1, Cu/nanoAl2O3 achieves propylene selectivity of 35–48% at low temperatures (250–300 °C), while Cu/Al2O3 only exhibits activity starting at 350 °C with about 40% propylene selectivity. Altering the propylene-to-oxygen ratio to 3:1 enhances selectivity towards propylene in both catalysts, up to about 64% on Cu/Al2O3 at temperatures of 250–350 °C. The switch to the mild oxidant CO2 boosts propylene selectivity to 100%. In case of Cu/nanoAl2O3, the rate of propylene formation doubles that of the obtained with O2 used as oxidant. While with CO2 the Cu/nanoAl2O3 catalyst retains 100% propylene selectivity up to 500 °C, on the less active Cu/Al2O3 cracking sets off already at 400 °C. The different size of copper particles in the two catalysts is seen as a primary factor determining the observed differences in the performance of the studied catalysts.

The dataset contains three folders, as described below:

"1_Catalytic Activity"
This folder contains results of oxidative dehydrogenation of propane: the peak areas for each reactant and product, the propane conversion, product selectivity and rates. These raw and calculated results were used to generate Figures 1-6 and S1-S3.
One file in .txt format titled "ODHP_GC_conversion-selectivity-rates.TXT"

"2_BET Surface Area analysis of fresh and spent catalysts"
The folder contains 8 files in .xls format, which contain the data from N2 adsorption–desorption measurements used for BET surface area and pore structure analysis. The data included in these files were used to generate Table 3 and Figure S9.
   (i)    BET_Al2O3_fresh.XLS
   (ii)   BET_Al2O3_spent.XLS
   (iii)  BET_Cu_Al2O3_fresh.XLS
   (iv)   BET_Cu_Al2O3_spent.XLS
   (v)    BET_Cu_nano_Al2O3_fresh.XLS
   (vi)   BET_Cu_nano_Al2O3_spent.XLS
   (vii)  BET_nano_Al2O3_fresh.XLS
   (vii)  BET_nano_Al2O3_spent.XLS

"3_XRD spectra of fresh and spent catalysts"
This folder contains the XRD spectra of the fresh and spent catalyst in .txt format, which were used to generate Figures 12 and S8 and subsequent Rietveld refinement of these spectra was used to generate Tables 2 and S4. The files are as follows:

   (i)    XRD_Al2O3_fresh.TXT
   (ii)   XRD_Al2O3_spent.TXT
   (iii)  XRD_Cu_Al2O3_fresh.TXT
   (iv)   XRD_Cu_Al2O3_spent.TXT
   (v)    XRD_Cu_nano_Al2O3_fresh.TXT
   (vi)   XRD_Cu_nano_Al2O3_spent.TXT
   (vii)  XRD_nano_Al2O3_fresh.TXT
   (vii)  XRD_nano_Al2O3_spent.TXT