Dehydrogenation of 1-butene with CO2 over VOx supported catalysts

Butadiene (BD) is an important intermediate in chemical industry and is obtained predominantly from fossil sources. In the future new and sustainable BD sources and synthesis routes might be required to meet the rising demands for this compound. Here, the synthesis of BD from 1-butene in the presence of CO2 was studied using supported vanadium oxide as active compound. Among the tested supports SBA-15 was shown to be the most effective one and a maximum BD yield of 39 % could be achieved. The VOx/SBA-15 catalysts were characterized by complementary methods to obtain insight about the effect of catalyst synthesis and vanadium loadings on the formation of VOx surface structures as well as the catalytic performance. CO2 has a positive impact on the reaction. Coking was considered to be the main reason for the catalyst deactivation and the decreasing BD yield with increasing time on stream.