Reactivating propane dehydrogenation catalyst

An improved process for dehydrogenating an alkane, the process comprising placing an alkane in operative contact with a heated alkane dehydrogenation catalyst in a reactor, the catalyst comprising a Group VIII noble metal and a Group IIIA metal, removing from the reactor a partially deactivated catalyst, rejuvenating the partially deactivated catalyst in a regenerator, and transporting the rejuvenated catalyst from the regenerator to the reactor, wherein the improvement comprises a combination of treatment within the regenerator and transport of the rejuvenated catalyst from the regenerator to the reactor, the treatment within the regenerator comprising sequential steps:

• a. heating the partially deactivated catalyst to a temperature of at least 660 degrees Celsius using heat generated by combusting both coke contained on the partially deactivated catalyst and a fuel source other than said coke, said heating yielding a heated, further deactivated catalyst which has an alkane dehydrogenation activity that is less than that of the partially deactivated catalyst wherein combusting the fuel source other than said coke occurs concurrent with combusting said coke contained on the partially deactivated catalyst;
• b. subjecting the heated, further deactivated catalyst to a conditioning step which comprises maintaining the heated, further deactivated dehydrogenation catalyst at a temperature of at least 660 degrees Celsius while exposing 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 further deactivated catalyst;
• and, optionally,
• c. maintaining the oxygen-containing reactivated catalyst at a temperature of at least 660 degrees Celsius while exposing the reactivated catalyst to a flow of stripping gas that is substantially free of molecular oxygen and combustible fuel for a period of time to remove from the oxygen-containing reactivated dehydrogenation catalyst at least a portion of molecular oxygen trapped within or between catalyst particles and physisorbed oxygen that is desorbable at said temperature during that period of time and yield a rejuvenated dehydrogenation catalyst;
• with transport from the regenerator to the reactor being effected by a combination of gravity and motive force imparted by an inert transport gas.