Bismuth molybdate catalyst working mechanism

II. Characterization and Working Mechanism of Multicomponent Bismuth Molybdate Catalysts... 

At this stage, it is still difficult to determine whether the conclusion is appropriate for the fundamental part of the multicomponent bismuth molybdate catalyst. Unfortunately, we have no available information on the number of active reaction sites on the catalyst system. In the heterogeneous catalysis, apparent activation energy does not necessarily correspond to the real energy barrier of the elementary slow step of the reaction. Multicomponent bismuth molybdate catalyst has been established industrially, whereas only parts of the fundamental structure and working mechanism have been elucidated. In addition, important roles of alkali metals and other additives such as lanthanides remain unknown. Apparently, further investigations should be done to clarify the complete working mechanism of the multicomponent bismuth molybdate catalyst. 

A redox mechanism for oxidation catalysis was proposed by Mars and van Krevelen (34) for the oxidation of aromatics over V205. This mechanism introduced the concept that lattice oxygen of a reducible metal oxide could serve as a useful oxidizing agent for hydrocarbons. Moreover, it formed the basis for the early work at SOHIO which led to the development of the bismuth molybdate catalyst. Since that time there have been many reports which support the redox concept. 

Later work by Burrington and co-workers (55,56) confirmed the earlier mechanistic findings and added several important new insights into the mechanisms of both the oxidation and ammoxidation of propylene. The detailed mechanism for the ammoxidation reaction over a bismuth molybdate catalyst is shown in Figure 2. Key among the separate steps of the mechanism are as follows ... 

Much work has been invested to reveal the mechanism by which propylene is catalytically oxidized to acrolein over the heterogeneous catalyst surface. Isotope labeling experiments by Sachtler and DeBoer revealed the presence of an allylic intermediate in the oxidation of propylene to acrolein over bismuth molybdate. In these experiments, propylene was tagged once at Ci, another time at C2 and the third time at C3. 

Our recent work on the bismuth-cerium molybdate catalyst system has shown that it can serve as a tractable model for the study of the solid state mechanism of selective olefin oxidation by multicomponent molybdate catalysts. Although compositionally and structurally quite simple compared to other multiphase molybdate catalyst systems, bismuth-cerium molybdate catalysts are extremely effective for the selective ammoxidation of propylene to acrylonitrile (16). In particular, we have found that the addition of cerium to bismuth molybdate significantly enhances its catalytic activity for the selective ammoxidation of propylene to acrylonitrile. Maximum catalytic activity was observed for specific compositions in the single phase and two phase regions of the phase diagram (17). These characteristics of this catalyst system afford the opportunity to understand the physical basis for synergies in multiphase catalysts. In addition to this previously published work, we also include some of our most recent results on the bismuth-cerium molybdate system. As such, the present account represents a summary of our interpretations of the data on this system. 

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