A vanadium phosphorus oxide catalyst synthesized in rotating packed bed for high‐efficiency selective oxidation of n‐butane

Abstract

AbstractOxidation of n‐butane to produce maleic anhydride (MA) by the vanadium phosphorus oxide (VPO) catalyst is important for the fine chemical industry. However, the improvement in MA yield exceeding 60% is still a big challenge. In this article, a VPO catalyst with increased MA yield originated from the tailored structure of VPO precursor prepared in a rotating packed bed (RPB) reactor with excellent micro‐mixing efficiency. The activated VPO‐RPB catalyst displayed the coexistence of X1‐VOPO4 and αI‐VOPO4 phases and enhanced reducibility of V4+ state. Remarkably, the MA yield in n‐butane oxidation catalyzed by VPO‐RPB reached up to 66%, showing an increment by 14% compared with VPO‐STR prepared in a stirring tank reactor (STR). The VPO‐RPB showed the repeatable catalytic performance and achieved a promising scale‐up production. This work provides the experimental evidence of a dual‐phase (X1‐VOPO4 and αI‐VOPO4) mechanism for n‐butane oxidation, and reveals the structure–activity dependence of VPO catalyst.