The present contribution reviews recent experiments of our group towards the synthesizing and understanding of highly reactive sulfate-modified zirconia. It is shown that in the absence of Pt, the catalytic activity depends upon the ability to oxidize a small fraction of the alkanes to alkenes. The alkenes form sec-carbenium ions with Bronsted acid sites and isomerize via carbenium ion/alkoxy intermediates. Alkane activation/conversion propagates through hydride transfer from n-butane to the tert-butyl carbenium ion. A kinetic model accounting for the elementary steps is proposed and catalyst preparation strategies are reported.