Vanadium vaporization

Vanadium vapor has been used to prepare dibenzenevanadium (59), and it is expected that alkylbenzenes would also react smoothly with the vapor. A matrix isolation infrared study in which sputtered niobium atoms were reacted with benzene in an argon matrix at 30 K has given evidence for the formation of dibenzeneniobium (36). 

Vanadium or chromium vapors, condensed with the appropriate arenes, form M(C6H5C1)2, M(C8H5F)2, M(C8H4F2)2, and M(C8H5CF3)2. Chromium forms Cr[C8H4(CF3)2]2 and Cr(C8H4Cl2)2, but the corresponding vanadium compounds are not obtained from vanadium vapor. 

The results of this work show that even though the vapor pressure of vanadium is low, the transfer velocity of vanadium vapor is high and the rate of mass transfer in a fluidized bed is high. A high rate of vanadium transport to traps and a low rate of vanadium transport by transpiration are consistent with the vapor phase transport model. The vapor pressure of the vanadic acid follows a second order Freundlieh isotherm, which reflects a coverage dependent heat of adsorption. The rate of vanadium transfer from catalyst to trap is only weakly dependent on the number density of the catalyst or trap particles. This lack of dependence suggests that inter-particle collisions are not the dominant mechanism for vanadium transfer. Vanadium mobility in FCCU s is a complex issue dependent on many operating variables. 

Co-condensation of vanadium vapor with t-BuC=P 90 produced the paramagnetic complex [V(77 -P3C2/-Bu2)(t] -P2C3/-BU3)] 121, the structure of which was determined by X-ray crystallography (Scheme 25) <1995CC1659>. 

The reaction uses a fixed-bed vanadium pentoxide-titanium dioxide catalyst which gives good selectivity for phthalic anhydride, providing temperature is controlled within relatively narrow limits. The reaction is carried out in the vapor phase with reactor temperatures typically in the range 380 to 400°C. 

Acetylation of acetaldehyde to ethyUdene diacetate [542-10-9], a precursor of vinyl acetate, has long been known (7), but the condensation of formaldehyde [50-00-0] and acetic acid vapors to furnish acryflc acid [97-10-7] is more recent (30). These reactions consume relatively more energy than other routes for manufacturing vinyl acetate or acryflc acid, and thus are not likely to be further developed. Vapor-phase methanol—methyl acetate oxidation using simultaneous condensation to yield methyl acrylate is still being developed (28). A vanadium—titania phosphate catalyst is employed in that process. 

Vapor-phase oxidation over a promoted vanadium pentoxide catalyst gives a 90% yield of maleic anhydride [108-31-6] (139). Liquid-phase oxidation with a supported palladium catalyst gives 55% of succinic acid [110-15-6] (140). 

Oxidation. Naphthalene may be oxidized direcdy to 1-naphthalenol (1-naphthol [90-15-3]) and 1,4-naphthoquinone, but yields are not good. Further oxidation beyond 1,4-naphthoquinone [130-15-4] results in the formation of ortho- h. h5 ic acid [88-99-3], which can be dehydrated to form phthaUc anhydride [85-44-9]. The vapor-phase reaction of naphthalene over a catalyst based on vanadium pentoxide is the commercial route used throughout the world. In the United States, the one phthaUc anhydride plant currently operating on naphthalene feedstock utilizes a fixed catalyst bed. The fiuid-bed process plants have all been shut down, and the preferred route used in the world is the fixed-bed process. 

The anhydride of 1,8-naphthalenedicarboxyHc acid is obtained in ca 95—116 wt % yield by the vapor-phase air-oxidation of acenaphthene at ca 330—450°C, using unsupported or supported vanadium oxide catalysts, with or without modifiers (96). 

Manufacture and Processing. Until World War II, phthaUc acid and, later, phthaUc anhydride, were manufactured primarily by Hquid-phase oxidation of suitable feedstocks. The favored method was BASF s oxidation of naphthalene [91-20-3] by sulfuric acid ia the presence of mercury salts to form the anhydride. This process was patented ia 1896. During World War I, a process to make phthaUc anhydride by the oxidation of naphthalene ia the vapor phase over a vanadium and molybdenum oxide catalyst was developed ia the United States (5). Essentially the same process was developed iadependendy ia Germany, with U.S. patents being granted ia 1930 and 1934 (6,7). 

Fixed-Bed Vapor-Phase Oxidation of Naphthalene. A sihca gel or sihcon carbide support is used for catalyst involved in the oxidation of naphthalene. The typical naphthalene oxidation catalyst is a mixture of vanadium oxide and alkali metal sulfate on the siUca support. Some changes, such as the introduction of feed vaporizers, are needed to handle a naphthalene feed (14), but otherwise the equipment is the same. 

Durene. The oxidation of durene (4) yields pyromeUitic acid [89-05-4] (17) or pyromeUitic dianhydride [89-32-7] (18) directly. The oxidation can be carried out with dilute nitric acid ia solution, with air and catalyst either ia the vapor phase over a soHd vanadium pentoxide-based catalyst or ia the... 

The predominant process for manufacture of aniline is the catalytic reduction of nitroben2ene [98-95-3] ixh. hydrogen. The reduction is carried out in the vapor phase (50—55) or Hquid phase (56—60). A fixed-bed reactor is commonly used for the vapor-phase process and the reactor is operated under pressure. A number of catalysts have been cited and include copper, copper on siHca, copper oxide, sulfides of nickel, molybdenum, tungsten, and palladium—vanadium on alumina or Htbium—aluminum spinels. Catalysts cited for the Hquid-phase processes include nickel, copper or cobalt supported on a suitable inert carrier, and palladium or platinum or their mixtures supported on carbon. 

Minor uses of vanadium chemicals are preparation of vanadium metal from refined pentoxide or vanadium tetrachloride Hquid-phase organic oxidation reactions, eg, production of aniline black dyes for textile use and printing inks color modifiers in mercury-vapor lamps vanadyl fatty acids as driers in paints and varnish and ammonium or sodium vanadates as corrosion inhibitors in flue-gas scmbbers. 

Oxidation. Benzene can be oxidized to a number of different products. Strong oxidizing agents such as permanganate or dichromate oxidize benzene to carbon dioxide and water under rigorous conditions. Benzene can be selectively oxidized in the vapor phase to maleic anhydride. The reaction occurs in the presence of air with a promoted vanadium pentoxide catalyst (11). Prior to 1986, this process provided most of the world s maleic anhydride [108-31 -6] C4H2O2. Currendy maleic anhydride is manufactured from the air oxidation of / -butane also employing a vanadium pentoxide catalyst. 

The vapor-phase oxidation (VPO) of butadiene with air at 200—500°C produces maleic anhydride [108-31-6]. Catalysts used are based on vanadium and molybdenum oxides (89,90). Alternatively, when using a catalyst containing Al, Mo, and Ti, butadiene undergoes a complex series of condensations and oxidations to form anthraquinone at 250°C (91). 

Vanadium-Sodium Compounds Most Corrosive. Physical property data for vanadates, phase diagrams, laboratory experiments, and numerous field investigations have shown that the sodium vanadates are the lowest melting compounds and are the most corrosive to metals and refractories. These compounds are thought to form by either the vapor phase reaction of NaCI and V2O5 or by the combination of fine droplets of these materials upon the cooler parts of combustion equipment. 

Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) are substances that may cause immediate or long-term adverse effects on human health. HAPs can be gases, particulates, trace metals such as mercui y, and vapors such as benzene. For coal-fired power plants, the HAPs of most concern are metals such as mercury, arsenic, and vanadium. 

Vanadium in the feed poisons the FCC catalyst when it is deposited on the catalyst as coke by vanadyl porphydrine in the feed. During regeneration, this coke is burned off and vanadium is oxidized to a oxidation state. The vanadium oxide (V O ) reacts with water vapor in the regenerator to vanadic acid, HjVO. Vanadic acid is mobile and it destroys zeolite crystal through acid-catalyzed hydrolysis. Vanadic acid formation is related to the steam and oxygen concentration in the regenerator. 

Next, let the example of vanadium, which, in the as-reduced condition, may contain a variety of impurities (including aluminum, calcium, chromium, copper, iron, molybdenum, nickel, lead, titanium, and zinc) be considered. Vanadium melts at 1910 °C, and at this temperature it is considerably less volatile than many of the impurity metals present in it. The vapor pressure of pure vanadium at this temperature is 0.02 torr, whereas those of the impurity elements in their pure states are the following aluminum 22 torr calcium 1 atm, chromium 6 torr copper 23 torr iron 2 torr molybdenum 6 1CT6 torr nickel 1 torr lead 1 torr titanium 0.1 torr and zinc 1 atm. However, since most of these impurities form a dilute solution in vanadium, their actual partial pressures over vanadium are considerably lower than the values indicated. Taking this into account, the vaporization rate, mA, of an element A (the evaporating species) can be approximated by the following free evaporation equation (Langmuir equation) ... 

V metals, vanadium has the least tendency to deoxidize by carbon monoxide evolution. This means that, at a given temperature and a given value of Pco, the residual carbon and/or oxygen contents in vanadium will be compared more to niobium and tantalum. In other words, the removal of carbon and/or oxygen from vanadium will occur to a much lesser extent than in the cases of niobium or tantalum. The effect of carbon deoxidation can be quite complicated if there is a significant loss of the metal by vaporization. The requirement of a low vapor pressure is also better satisfied by niobium and tantalum than by vanadium. 

In the refining of the Group V metals (which are more accurately represented as metal-carbon-oxygen alloys), carbon deoxidation is not the only method by which oxygen is removed, because sacrificial deoxidation also occurs simultaneously. The relative extents to which each of these two deoxidation modes contributes to the overall removal of oxygen can be assessed by calculating the ratio of the vapor pressures of carbon monoxide and the metal monoxide over the M-C-0 alloy. The value of this ratio for vanadium at 2000 K is given by the expression... 

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