Oxidative dehydrogenation of propane over FeVal oxide catalysts

Mixed FeVAl oxide is shown to be a very active but low selectivity catalyst for oxidative dehydrogenation of propane, due to a large amount of weakly bound lattice oxygen. Addition of Mg, Co, Cr, and Bi enhances the selectivi ty to propylene, with Bi addition holding most promise to achieve high sele ctivity and considerable conversion at relatively low temperatures. The rea ction pathway on BiFeVAl oxide catalyst proceeds by propane oxydehydrogenat ion yielding propylene as the exclusive primary product at short contact ti mes. The reaction is first order in propane and 0.2 order in oxygen; that i s consistent with a redox mechanism, suggesting the involvement of catalyst lattice oxygen. At longer contact times propylene oxidizes to carbon oxide s, reducing the selectivity.