Effect of alkali metals on V-Mg-O catalyst in the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane

Abstract

The effect of alkali metals on V-Mg-O catalyst in the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane to propene is investigated. It has been found that alkali loading affects the structure and catalytic performance of V-Mg-O catalyst. Comparison between unpromoted 28V-Mg-O and alkali loaded 28V-Mg-O, the increasing propene selectivity is observed with the expense of propane conversion when alkali metals are added. In addition, the catalyst pretreated in non-oxidizing atmosphere shows an improvement in the catalytic property. The catalyst pretreated in Ar shows high propene selectivity without any significant change in propane conversion. It is found that for the catalyst loaded with alkali metals, alkali metals can form V-O-M and/or M-O-M structure on the catalyst surface apart from V-O-V species, where M is alkali metal.