Oxidative dehydrogenation of propane and n-butane on V-Mg based catalysts

Abstract The catalytic properties of vanadium supported catalysts for the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane and n-butane has been studied. Natural Sepiolite and magnesium oxalate were used as starting support materials. Large differences in the type of crystalline phases were detected on the calcined catalysts depending on the vanadium content and nature of the support. The active and selective sites for the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane and n-butane, are related with isolated V 5+ with atetrahedral coordination. The presence of vanadium species with coordination higher than 4 negatively influence the selectivity to dehydrogenation products.