Propane oxidation, general discussion

Catalyst Chemistry. Just as in the case of selective ammoxidation of propylene to acrylonitrile, the most effective catalysts for propane ammoxidation are based on the oxides of antimony and molybdenum. In fact, in many instances, modifications in the compositions of highly effective catalysts for propylene ammoxidation result in some of the best reported catalysts for propane ammoxidation. This similarity in catalyst types is easy to rationalize, since, as is discussed in a later section, propylene is the key hydrocarbon intermediate in the mechanism of acrylonitrile formation from propane. It can be further generalized that if... 

In general, mixed-metal oxides are at present the most important catalytic system for the partial oxidation of C2-C5 alkanes into 0-containing partial oxidation products. However, different characteristics should be considered among the several catalysts within this group. For instance, VPO- and MoVO-based catalysts are the most effective systems for -butane (or -butene) oxidation to MA and propane (or propene) oxidation to acrylic acid, respectively. It must be indicated that, although some similarities are observed for the ammoxidation " over MoVO- or SbVO-based catalyts, the latter show very low selectivity during the partial oxidation of propane and no results with other alkanes have been reported. " Therefore, SbVO-based catalysts will not be explicitly included in the following discussion. 

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