Reactivating propane dehydrogenation catalyst

A process for dehydrogenating an alkane, the process comprising:

• a. placing an alkane in operative contact with a heated alkane dehydrogenation catalyst in a reactor, the alkane dehydrogenation catalyst comprising a Group VIII noble metal and a Group IIIA metal;
• b. removing from the reactor a partially deactivated catalyst, wherein at least a portion of the partially deactivated catalyst has coke deposited thereon;
• c. rejuvenating at least a portion of the partially deactivated catalyst, yielding a rejuvenated dehydrogenation catalyst, by:
• (1) heating at least a portion of the partially deactivated catalyst in a regenerator to a temperature of at least 660 degrees Celsius using heat at least partially generated by combusting a fuel source, wherein the fuel source is not the coke, said heating yielding a heated, further deactivated dehydrogenation catalyst which has an alkane dehydrogenation activity that is less than that of the partially deactivated catalyst;
• and
• (2) subjecting at least a portion of the heated, further deactivated catalyst to a conditioning step which comprises maintaining at least a portion of the heated, further deactivated dehydrogenation catalyst at a temperature of at least 660 degrees Celsius while exposing at least a portion of the heated, further deactivated dehydrogenation catalyst to a flow of an oxygen-containing gas for a period of time greater than two minutes to yield an oxygen-containing reactivated dehydrogenation catalyst that has an activity for dehydrogenating alkane that is greater than that of either the partially deactivated catalyst or the heated, further deactivated catalyst.