Molybdenum and Vanadium Oxide Catalysts in the Dehydrogenation of Butanes

摘要

The dehydrogenation of light alkanes offers a selective route to the production of alkenes, which are building blocks in the production of high quality gasoline and a variety of chemicals and polymers. Present commercial dehydrogenation technologies are based on either supported platinum metal or supported chromium oxide catalysts. The aim of this study was to assess the potential of molybdenum and vanadium oxide as replacements for chromium oxide catalyst in the dehydrogenation of light alkanes. Activities of molybdenum and vanadium oxides were compared with the activity of chromium oxide supported on aluminium oxide. In addition, the influence of the support (aluminium oxide, silicon dioxide, silicon carbide) was calculated to obtain a better understanding of the active oxidation states of the oxides. The rapidity of the technique used to analyze the reaction product, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), made it possible to measure the initial activity of the catalysts and follows the changes in the reduction level of the oxides.