Selective oxidation of propane to acrylic acid over mixed metal oxide catalysts

Abstract The effects of metal atomic ratio, water content, oxygen content, and calcination temperature on the catalytic performances of MoVTeNbO mixed oxide catalyst system for the selective oxidation of propane to acrylic acid have been investigated and discussed. Among the catalysts studied, it was found that the MoVTeNbO catalyst calcined at a temperature of 600° C showed the best performance in terms of propane conversion and selectivity for acrylic acid under an atmosphere of nitrogen. An effective MoVTeNbO oxide catalyst for propane selective oxidation to acrylic acid was obtained with a combination of a preferred metal atomic ratio (Mo 1 V 0.31 Te 0.23 Nb 0.12 ). The optimum reaction condition for the selective oxidation of propane was the molar ratio of C 3 H 8 :O 2 : H 2 O : N 2 = 4.4 : 12.8 : 15.3 : 36.9. Under such conditions, the conversion of propane and the maximum yield of acrylic acid reached about 50% and 21%, respectively.