Oxidative dehydrogenation of propane over vanadium oxide based catalysts - Effect of support and alkali promoter

The oxidative dehydrogenation of propane was investigated using vanadia type catalysts supported on Al2O3 TiO2, ZrO2 and MgO. The promotion of V2O5/Al2O3 catalyst with alkali metals (Li. Na, K) was also attempted. Evaluation of temperature programmed reduction patterns showed that the reducibility of V species is affected by the support acid-base character. The catalytic activity is favored by the V reducibility of the catalyst as it was confirmed from runs conducted at 450-550 degrees C. V2O5/TiO2 catalyst exhibits the highest activity in oxydehydrogenation of propane. The support's nature also affects the selectivity to propene; V2O5 supported on Al2O3 catalyst exhibits the highest selectivity. Reaction studies showed that addition of alkali metals decreases the catalytic activity in the order non-doped>Li>Na>K. Propene selectivity significantly increases in the presence of doped catalysts. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.