A novel mixed oxide material is disclosed which comprises molybdenum, vanadium, tellurium and niobium and the use of the mixed oxide material as catalyst for the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethene or the oxidation of propane to acrylic acid and a process for producing the mixed oxide material.

Oxidative dehydrogenation catalysts for converting lower paraffins to alkenes such as ethane to ethylene when prepared as an agglomeration, for example extruded with supports comprising slurries of Nb.sub.2O.sub.5.

Provided in this disclosure are catalyst compositions. The catalyst compositions include an oxidative dehydrogenation catalyst that includes a mixed metal oxide having the empirical formula:

Mo.sub.1.0V.sub.0.12-0.49Te.sub.0.05-0.17Nb.sub.0.10-0.20Al.sub.cO.sub.d

wherein c is from 0 to 2.0 and d is a number to satisfy the valence of the oxide. The compositions are at least 40 wt. % amorphous as measured by XRD. The disclosure also provides methods of making the compositions.

Mixed metal oxide catalysts having an amorphous content of not less than 40 wt. % are prepared by calcining the catalyst precursor fully or partially enclosed by a porous material having a melting temperature greater than 600° C. in an inert container including heating the catalyst precursor at a rate from 0.5 to 10° C. per minute from room temperature to a temperature from 370° C. to 540° C. under a stream of pre heated gas chosen from steam and inert gas and mixtures thereof at a pressure of greater than or equal to 1 psig having a temperature from 300° C. to 540° C. and holding the catalyst precursor at that temperature for at least 2 hours and cooling the catalyst precursor to room temperature.

This document relates to oxidative dehydrogenation catalysts that include molybdenum, vanadium, and oxygen.

Provided in this disclosure are oxidative dehydrogenation catalysts that include a mixed metal oxide having the empirical formula:

Mo.sub.1.0V.sub.0.12-0.49Te.sub.0.05-0.17Nb.sub.0.10-0.20O.sub.d

wherein d is a number to satisfy the valence of the oxide. The oxidative dehydrogenation catalyst is characterized by having XRD diffraction peaks (2θ degrees) at 22±0.2, 27±0.2, 28.0±0.2, and 28.3±0.1. The disclosure also provides methods of making the catalysts that include wet ball milling.

A method of converting one or more alkanes to one or more alkenes that includes a) providing a first stream containing one or more alkanes and oxygen to an oxidative dehydrogenation reactor; b) converting at least a portion of the one or more alkanes to one or more alkenes in the oxidative dehydrogenation reactor to provide a second stream exiting the oxidative dehydrogenation reactor containing one or more alkanes, one or more alkenes, oxygen, carbon monoxide and optionally acetylene; and c) providing the second stream to a second reactor containing a catalyst that includes a group 11 metal to convert a least a portion of the carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide and reacting the acetylene.

The present invention relates to a catalyst which is a composite oxide including at least one element X selected from the group consisting of elements belonging to Groups 3 to 6 of the periodic table, and at least one element Z selected from the group consisting of elements belonging to Group 14 of the periodic table, wherein the catalyst has mesopores.

A catalyst includes at least one element X selected from the group consisting of Groups 3 to 6 of the Periodic Table, and at least one element Z selected from the group consisting of Group 14 elements. At least one diffraction peak is observed in a low angle range of θ=6° or less in an X-ray diffraction profile observed using X-ray diffraction. The at least one diffraction peak has a ratio (I/H) of a peak intensity I to a half width at half maximum H of the diffraction peak of 5000 or more.

Processes and associated reaction systems for the oxidative dehydrogenation of an alkane containing 2 to 6 carbon atoms, preferably ethane or propane, more preferably ethane, are provided. In particular, a process is provided that comprises supplying a feed gas comprising the alkane and oxygen to a reactor vessel that comprises an upstream and downstream catalyst bed; contacting the feed gas with an oxidative dehydrogenation catalyst in the upstream catalyst bed, followed by contact with an oxidative dehydrogenation/oxygen removal catalyst in the downstream catalyst bed, to yield a reactor effluent comprising the alkene; and supplying an upstream coolant to an upstream shell space of the reactor vessel from an upstream coolant circuit and a downstream coolant to a downstream shell space of the reactor vessel from a downstream coolant circuit.