a Laboratoire Catalyse et Spectrochimie, ISMRA, 6 Bd du Maréchal Juin, 14032, Caen Cedex, France
b Rhône-Poulenc Recherches, 52 rue de la Haie Coq, 93308, Aubervilliers, France
Abstract:
A VPO/TiO2 catalyst tested in the oxydehydrogenation reaction (ODH) of propane between 300 and 400°C shows satisfactory performances (up to 80% of propene selectivity at 2% of propane conversion at 300°C or 56% of propene selectivity at 9% of propane conversion at 400°C). Addition of water or pyridine in the feed gas tends to decrease the propane conversion and enhances the propene selectivity. It is shown that water increases the number of Brönsted surface acid sites by dissociative adsorption which, in turn, enhances propene selectivity at the expense of the COx selectivity. These results are in good agreement with spectroscopic IR observations performed under catalytic conditions showing that the Lewis acid sites are linked to COxformation, whereas it seems that Brönsted sites would rather be linked to propene formation.