Surface-Initiated Gas-Phase Epoxidation of Propylene with Molecular Oxygen by Silica-Supported Molybdenum Oxide: Effects of Addition of C3H8 or NO and Reactor Design

The gas-phase epoxidation of propylene was studied over MoOx/SiO2 catalysts in a reaction system with a post-catalytic bed volume. In the reaction of a mixture of propylene and propane with oxygen below 578 K, propylene oxide (PO) was mainly formed from the oxidation of propylene. It was found that the oxidation reaction was very sensitive to the temperature of the post-catalytic space more than the temperature of the catalyst bed, strongly indicating that radical reactions occurring in the post-catalytic bed free space were responsible for the PO formation. The addition of NO increased propylene conversions and PO selectivity at low conversions, confirming that radical reactions were involved in the propylene reactions.