Gas phase heterogeneous partial oxidation reactions

Abstract Mixed metal oxides are used as catalysts in the gas phase partial oxidation of hydrocarbons. This paper will present the principles of catalyst choice for selective oxidation reactions as well as the structural features of metal oxide catalysts. The nature of active sites in selective oxidation reactions will also be briefly discussed. We will pay special attention to several representative reactions: (1) ODH of short chain alkanes (from C1 to C4), (2) propene partial oxidation/ammoxidation on bismuth molybdate based catalysts, (3) n-butane direct oxidation to maleic anhydride on VPO type catalysts, and (4) propane direct oxidation/ammoxidation on mixed MoVTe(Sb)Nb–O catalysts. Fin…