Oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane over vanadium and niobium oxides supported catalysts

Ethane oxidehydrogenation has been investigated over niobium and vanadium oxides supported on high surface area TiO2. The vanadia-titania catalysts are very active but with low selectivity due to their high reducibility. The selectivity to ethylene is enhanced by the presence of niobium. By changing the order of addition of vanadia and niobia to the support, catalysts with slightly different redox and acid properties are obtained. At low vanadium loading, supporting the two oxides at the same time results in the best catalytic performances, while at high loading a two steps impregnation gives the best results.