ABSTRACT 

In this review we will examine the dehydrogenation of propane over chromia catalysts and the collaboration between catalyst chemists and chemical engineers that has led to a detailed understanding of both atomic scale processes and macro-scale processes. Over a number of years in our laboratories we have investigated this system using continuous flow, pulse flow and isotopic labelling techniques coupled to transient flow methods. The data from these experiments has allowed us to determine the kinetics and mechanism of the reaction and of the deactivation process, and hence to develop predictive kinetic and deactivation models.