EFFECT OF THE REACTION TEMPERATURE AND HYDROCARBON PARTIAL-PRESSURE ON THE ACTIVITY OF CARBON-MODIFIED MOO3 FOR N-HEXANE ISOMERIZATION

The isomerization of n-hexane on MoO3 leads to the formation of a new catalytically active phase, molybdenum oxycarbide, that exhibits high and stable activity and isomer selectivity with time on stream under s oft reaction conditions. The study as a function of the reaction tempe rature shows that too low a temperature prevents the MoO3 transformati on, while too high a temperature prevents the development of the MoOxC y phase to the benefit of a surface carbide phase. For variable n-hexa ne partial pressure the same trend is observed with the appearance of carbonaceous and carbide species with higher partial pressure, which a re not active for the isomerization.