Michael J. Mummey

Butane Oxidation in A Transport Bed Reactor – Redox Characteristics of The Vanadium Phosphorus Oxide Catalyst

Redox properties of vanadium phosphorous oxide (VPO) catalysts have been measured using butane and hydrogen as reductants and molecular oxygen as an oxidizing agent. These redox measurements indicate vanadium phosphorous oxide catalysts can vary markedly in oxygen capacity and redox rates. The VPO systems selected for this study range in oxygen carrying capacity from surface oxygen participation only to involvement of subsurface oxygen. The stability of the operative redox chemistry of a VPO catalyst is illustrated by a 30000 cycle butane reduction test. Butane oxidation results in a transport bed reactor are explained by fundamental redox properties of vanadium phosphorous oxide catalysts.

Activation of Vanadium Phosphorus Oxide Catalysts for Alkane Oxidation Oxygen Storage and Catalyst Performance

The reaction of n-butarie with “reactor-equilibrated” (VO) 2 P 2 O 7 based catalysts activated with different oxygen treatments has been investigated using a combination of high speed transient response and temperature programmed techniques. Results indicate that (VO) 2 P 2 O 7 has a unique “storage/supply” system capable of adsorbing oxygen and efficiently channeling it to the active catalytic site. It is proposed that storage occurs via the transformation of (VO) 2 P 2 O 7 into V +5 compounds and the supply mechanism involves the reverse reaction.