Iron- and manganese-promoted sulfated zirconia is a catalyst for the conversion of propane, but the rate of conversion of propane is much less than the rate of conversion of butane. Whereas this catalyst appears to be a good candidate for practical, industrial conversion of butane, it appears to lack sufficient activity for practical conversion of propane. The propane conversion data reported here provide excellent insights into the chemistry of the catalytic conversion. Solid and catalysts, namely, sulfated zirconia, iron- and manganese-promoted sulfated zirconia, and USY zeolite, were tested for conversion of propane at 1 atm, 200-450{degrees}C, and propane partial pressures in the range of 0.01-0.05 atm. Both promoted and unpromoted sulfated zirconia were found to be active for conversion of propane into butanes, pentanes, methane, ethane, ethylene, and propylene in the temperature range of 200-350{degrees}C, but catalyst deactivation was rapid. At the higher temperatures, only cracking and dehydrogenation products were observed. In contrast to the zirconia-supported catalysts, USY zeolite was observed to convert propane (into propylene, methane, and ethylene) only at temperatures {ge}400{degrees}C. The initial (5 min on stream) rates of propane conversion in the presence of iron- and manganese-promoted sulfated zirconia, sulfated zirconia, and USY zeolite at 450{degrees}C and 0.01 atm propane partial pressure were 3.3 x 10{sup -8}, 0.3 x 10{sup -8}, and 0.06 x 10{sup -8} mol/(s{center_dot}g), respectively. The product distributions in the temperature range 200-450{degrees}C are those of acid-base catalysis, being similar to what has been observed in superacid solution chemistry at temperatures <0{degrees}C. If propane conversion at 450{degrees}C can be considered as a probe of acid strength of the catalyst, the activity comparison suggests that the promoted sulfated zirconia is a stronger acid than sulfated zirconia, which is a stronger acid than USY zeolite.
