Impact of varying volume combinations of reducing agent mixtures on VPO catalysts

Abstract Numerous compounds can be produced by light oxidation of alkanes, but the most effective method for producing maleic anhydride (MA) in industry is the selective oxidation of n -butane. The invention relates to a technique for producing a vanadium phosphorus oxide (VPO) catalyst via exfoliation reduction on a dihydrate precursor for the selective oxidation process. The increased surface area of layered catalysts formed by exfoliating the dihydrate precursor in ethanol resulted in a higher reduction in V 4+ -O − oxygen species. VPO-90B60E demonstrated excellent catalytic capabilities, having the largest surface area (29.02 m 2 g −1 ) and the greatest removal of oxygen species (1.513 × 10 21 atoms g −1 ), with the reduction of V 4+ -O-oxygen species accounting for 1.278 × 10 21 atoms g −1 . It achieved the highest n -butane conversion of 30% with 86% product selectivity towards maleic anhydride.