n-Butane Oxidation over γ-Al2O3 Supported Vanadium Phosphate Catalysts

Four vanadium phosphate catalysts supported on γ-Al2O3(20 wt%)were synthesized via 75 h)at 673 K in a reaction flow of n-butane/air mixture.The samples calcined for 6 and 10 h produced only a single phase of(VO)2P2O7.However,the VOPO4 phase(β-VOPO4)was detected and became more prominent with only a minor pyrophosphate peaks were found after 30 h of calcination.All these pyrophosphate peaks disappeared after 75 h of calcination.The formation of V5+ phase Was also observed in the SEM micrographs.The redox properties and the nature of oxidants of the catalysts employed in this study were investigated by H2-TPR analysis.Selective oxidation of n-butane to maleic anhydride (MA) over these catalysts shows that the percentage of n-butane conversion decreases with the transformation of the catalysts from V4+ to V5+ phases.An appropriate ratio of V5+/V4+ can enhance the performance of the VPO catalyst.However,a higher amount of V5+ and its associated oxygen species are responsible to promote the MA selectivity.