Light olefi ns, such as ethylene and propylene, are the most widely used chemical monomers in the petrochemical industry;

they are currently produced mainly via naphtha steam cracking. Enhancing feed fl exibility for olefi n production is an important

strategy for improving the effi ciency of limited resources and increasing feedstock economics. LPG (liquefi ed petroleum

gas) is a relatively underutilized feedstock compared to naphtha because it is mostly used as a fuel to provide heat for the

process. We investigated a tandem catalytic dehydrogenation–cracking reaction to convert n -butane into olefi ns at moderate

temperatures, thus increasing its feedstock utilization. The tandem system used two types of catalysts: a Pt-based catalyst for

dehydrogenation and ZSM-5 for cracking. This enabled the sequential conversion of butane to butenes and the continuous

production of olefi ns with a lower production of methane. The effi ciency of the tandem reaction was maximized by studying

the optimal reaction temperature, relative reaction rate, catalyst ratio, and proximity eff ect of the catalyst layer. At 600 °C,

light olefi n yields of 34–37% were obtained via butane dehydrogenative cracking, which was 5 times higher than that of the

thermal cracking (6.8%) and 1.5 times higher than that of butane catalytic cracking (22.5%). In addition, an optimal reactor

design and process were proposed while considering the endothermic characteristics of dehydrogenative cracking and the

need for periodic catalyst regeneration. This study off ers a more effi cient and fl exible process for converting underutilized

LPG into valuable light olefi ns through tandem catalysis, improving resource utilization, reducing energy consumption, and

increasing olefi n yields.