Oxidation of benzene and thiophene on a nanostructured vanadium-molybdenum mixed oxide

Abstract

The catalytic oxidation of benzene and thiophene by air oxygen on a nanostructured vanadium-molybdenum mixed oxide with 50 mol % MoO3 and 50 mol % V2O5 prepared by the solvothermal method is studied. It is shown that, in the temperature range 200–350°C, the catalyst efficiently oxidizes thiophene (with a degree of conversion of up to 40 mol %) and poorly oxidizes benzene. This enables to consider nanostructured molybdenum-vanadium oxides as promising for the low-temperature catalytic desulfurization of hydrocarbons. It is demonstrated that the reaction causes a change in the structure and morphology of the oxide system.