Kinetics of Ethane Oxidation on Vanadium Oxide

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/j100375a049

The oxidation of ethane with molecular oxygen on a well-characterized V2O5/SiO2 catalyst produced ethylene and acetaldehyde as the only selective oxidation products.The effects of partial pressures of ethane, oxygen, and water were investigated at 841 K, and it was found that only water had a strong influence on the overall selectivity.The results were described by a simple sequence of steps.Ethylene was the major product, and its oxidation was studied further to determine whether its secondary reaction affected the kinetic results.A first-order analysis of the reaction network indicated that the oxidation of ethylene and acetaldehyde contributed significantly to the observed kinetics.