A vanadium phosphorus oxide catalyst synthesized in rotating packed bed for high ‐efficiency selective oxidation of n‐butane

AbstractOxidation ofn-butane to produce maleic anhydride (MA) by the vanadium phosphorus oxide (VPO) catalyst is important for the fine chemical industry. However, the improvement in MA yield exceeding 60% is still a big challenge. In this article, a VPO catalyst with increased MA yield originated from the tailored structure of VPO precursor prepared in a rotating packed bed (RPB) reactor with excellent micro-mixing efficiency. The activated VPO-RPB catalyst displayed the coexistence of X1-VOPO4 and αI-VOPO4 phases and enhanced reducibility of V4+ state. Remarkably, the MA yield inn-butane oxidation catalyzed by VPO-RPB reached up to 66%, showing an increment by 14% compared with VPO-STR prepared in a stirring tank reactor (STR). The VPO-RPB showed the repeatable catalytic performance and achieved a promising scale-up production. This work provides the experimental evidence of a dual-phase (X1-VOPO4 and αI-VOPO4) mechanism forn-butane oxidation, and reveals the structure –activity dependence of VPO catalyst.
Source: AIChE Journal - Category: Science Authors: Tags: REACTION ENGINEERING, KINETICS AND CATALYSIS Source Type: research