The partial oxidation of propane under mild aqueous conditions with H2O2 and ZSM-5 catalysts

We report the oxidation of propane under mild aqueous conditions using H2O2 as the oxidant. Various reaction conditions have been studied with a view to optimising the conversion of propane in the presence of a Fe/ZSM-5 (30) catalyst. Process optimisation afforded 52% propane conversion in 0.5 h at a temperature of 70 degrees C. C-3 products are shown to undergo sequential catalytic C-C scission and oxidation reactions in the presence of the catalysts, yielding C-2 and C-1 products. This leads to an inverse relationship between propane conversion and reaction selectivity. Addition of Cu to Fe/ZSM-5 (30) shifted reaction selectivity towards propene (<= 34%) with increasing conversion.