Oxidative dehydrogenation of n-butane over magnesium vanadate nano-catalysts supported on magnesia-zirconia: effect of vanadium content.

Magnesia-zirconia (MgO-ZrO2) support was prepared by a sol-gel method, and magnesium vanadate nano-catalysts supported on magnesia-zirconia (X-Mg3(VO4)2/MgO-ZrO2) were then prepared by a wet impregnation method with a variation of vanadium content (X = 6.6, 9.9, 12.8, 15.2, and 19.1 wt%). X-Mg3(VO4)2/MgO-ZrO2 nano-catalysts were applied to the oxidative dehydrogenation of n-butane to n-butene and 1,3-butadiene. The formation of X-Mg3(VO4)2/MgO-ZrO2 nano-catalysts was well confirmed by XRD, XPS, and ICP-AES analyses. 15.2-Mg3(VO4)2/MgO-ZrO2 and 19.1-Mg3(VO4)2/MgO-ZrO2 catalysts experienced a catalyst deactivation, while the other Mg3(VO4)2/MgO-ZrO2 catalysts showed a stable catalytic performance during the whole reaction time. The effect of oxygen property of X-Mg3(VO4)2/MgO-ZrO2 nano-catalysts on the catalytic performance in the oxidative dehydrogenation of n-butane was investigated. Experimental results revealed that oxygen capacity of the catalyst was closely related to the catalytic performance, while oxygen mobility of the catalyst played an important role in the catalyst stability. Among the catalysts tested, 12.8-Mg3(VO4)2/MgO-ZrO2 catalyst showed the best catalytic performance in terms of yield for TDP (total dehydrogenation products).