Transient and steady state investigation of selective and non-selective reaction pathways in the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane over supported vanadia catalysts

Mechanistic aspects of the formation of C3H6, CO and CO2 in the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane over VOx/gamma-Al2O3 materials have been investigated by means of steady state and transient isotopic tests. The materials possessed highly dispersed and polymerised VOx species as well as bulk-like V2O5. Propene was primarily formed via oxidative dehydrogenation of propane by lattice oxygen of VOx species. It was suggested that non-selective consecutive propene oxidation is initiated by the breaking of the C-C bond in the molecule by the lattice oxygen, forming formaldehyde as a side product, which is further oxidised to CO and CO2. The following order of initial steady state propene selectivity (at a zero degree of propane conversion) as a function of the nature of VOx species was established: a mixture of bulk-like V2O5 and polymerised VOx > polymerised VOx > highly dispersed VOx species. The low propene selectivity over highly dispersed VOx species was explained by the fact that these species do not fully cover the bare acidic surface of gamma-Al2O3 where propene adsorption and further oxidation take place. Thus, two different locations of COx formation were considered: (i) in the vicinity of acidic sites of the support and (ii) on VOx species. The propene selectivity over samples possessing polymerised VOx species and bulk-like V2O5 strongly decreased with an increasing degree of propane conversion. Contrarily, highly dispersed VOx species showed the lowest ability for consecutive propene oxidation.