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A set of vanadium phosphorous oxide (VPO) catalysts, mainly consisting of (VO) 2 P 2 O 7 , VO(PO 3 ) 2 or VOPO 4 ·2H 2 O bulk crystalline phases, has been investigated for the oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of ethane to ethylene, a key potential reaction for a sustainable industrial and socioeconomic development. The catalytic performance on these VPO catalysts has been explained on the basis of the main crystalline phases and the corresponding surface features found by XPS and LEISS at 400 °C, i.e. within the temperature range used for ODH reaction. The catalysts based on (VO) 2 P 2 O 7 phase presented the highest catalytic activity and productivity to ethylene. Nevertheless, the catalysts consisting of VO(PO 3 ) 2 structure showed higher selectivity to ethylene, reaching 90% selectivity at ca. 10% ethane conversion. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest selectivity reported on a vanadium phosphorous oxide at similar conversions for the ethane ODH. In general, catalysts consisting of crystalline phases with vanadium present as V 4+ , i.e. (VO) 2 P 2 O 7 and VO(PO 3 ) 2, were found to be significantly more selective to ethylene than those containing V 5+ phases. The surface analysis by XPS showed an inverse correlation between the mean oxidation state of vanadium near surface and the selectivity to ethylene. The lower averaged oxidation states of vanadium appear to be favoured by the presence of V 3+ species near the surface, which was only found in the catalysts containing V 4+ phases. Among those catalysts the one based on VO(PO 3 ) 2 phase shows the highest selectivity, which could be related to the most isolated scenario of V species (the lowest V content relative to P) found at the outermost surface by low energy ion scattering spectroscopy (LEISS), a “true” surface technique only sensitive to the outermost atomic layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In heterogeneous catalysis, catalyst precursor activation and subsequent initial operation (‘conditioning’) under reaction conditions are often highly dynamic steps which are important in delivering effective catalyst performance over time scales of years. In many cases however, the phenomena occurring in both steps are often poorly understood. A novel approach to assess the conditioning step, comprising advanced catalyst testing methods in micro-reactors, catalyst characterisation and detailed kinetic and activity modelling techniques is demonstrated for a model system: the selective oxidation of n-butane to maleic anhydride (MA) using a pre-activated vanadium phosphorus oxide (VPO) catalyst. A transient kinetic model for the conditioning step is presented which describes the decline of population of active sites for three reaction pathways on the catalyst surface over time. Two reaction pathways, n-butane --> MA and n-butane --> COx decay similarly with time whilst a third, MA --> COx declines very sharply. The approach used provides important mechanistic information on catalyst reaction kinetics whilst also providing understanding the impact of reaction conditions on the catalyst during conditioning. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]