The dehydrogenation of isopropanol on catalysts prepared by sodium borohydride reduction

Nickel catalysts reduced with sodium borohydride have been found to be active for the liquid phase dehydrogenation of isopropanol. The activity, per unit weight of catalyst, is at least as high as that of Raney nickel. Promotion of the new catalyts with small amounts of chromium has been explained by an increase in surface area. Indeed, the activity per unit surface area of the unpromoted and promoted nickel catalysts is constant over a sevenfold range of surface area.