The present disclosure discloses a supported polymetallic oxide tandem catalyst, preparation method and application thereof, a surface of the support is supported with an oxide of metal A and then with metal vanadate nano-particles; and the oxide of metal A serves as a direct dehydrogenation catalytic site, and the metal vanadate nano-particles serve as a selective hydrogen combustion site. In the application of the tandem catalyst, dehydrogenation site and selective hydrogen combustion site are coupled at the nano-scale, and this coupling mechanism shifts the reaction equilibrium to the alkenes through the selective combustion of byproduct hydrogen, which effectively surpasses the thermodynamic limit; and meanwhile, the combustion of hydrogen releases chemical energy, and provides heat energy through direct heating, enabling the self-heating operation of the reaction. The present disclosure has the outstanding advantages of high single-pass conversion rate of light alkanes and high selectivity towards target product alkenes.

The invention relates to a process of the oxidative dehydrogenation of an alkane containing 2 to 6 carbon atoms and/or the oxidation of an alkene containing 2 to 6 carbon atoms, comprising contacting a first gas stream comprising oxygen and the alkane containing 2 to 6 carbon atoms and/or the alkene containing 2 to 6 carbon atoms with a mixed metal oxide catalyst containing molybdenum, vanadium, niobium and optionally tellurium; followed by contacting a second gas stream comprising methane, an inert gas or oxygen or any combination of two or more of these with the catalyst, wherein the second gas stream comprises 0 to 25 vol. % of the alkane containing 2 to 6 carbon atoms and/or alkene containing 2 to 6 carbon atoms.

The disclosed invention relates to a process for converting ethylbenzene to styrene, comprising: flowing a feed composition comprising ethylbenzene in at least one process microchannel in contact with at least one catalyst to dehydrogenate the ethylbenzene and form a product comprising styrene; exchanging heat between the process microchannel and at least one heat exchange channel in thermal contact with the process microchannel; and removing product from the process microchannel. Also disclosed is an apparatus comprising a process microchannel, a heat exchange channel, and a heat transfer wall positioned between the process microchannel and heat exchange channel wherein the heat transfer wall comprises a thermal resistance layer.

A process for producing an ether including treating (a) an ester with (b) hydrogen in the presence of (c) a heterogeneous catalyst to reduce the ester by hydrogenation to form an ether product.