Selective oxidation of isobutane over hydrothermally synthesised Mo-V-Te-Nb-O mixed oxide catalyst

Various Mo-V-Nb-Te-O mixed oxide catalysts were prepared by hydrothermal synthesis and characterized by means of XRD, ICP, BET and SEM. The catalysts were tested in the selective oxidation of isobutane to methylacrolein (MAL) and methacrylic acid (MAA). The effects of elemental composition of the catalyst, reaction temperature and GHSV on the catalytic performance were investigated. The results indicate that the composition and crystal phase of the catalysts significantly affected the catalytic properties. Under the optimum reaction conditions (673 K, GHSV = 3600 h(-1)), MOV0.3Te0.17Nb0.12Ox exhibited the highest catalytic performance, the conversion of isobutane was 10.8%, the yield of MAA + MAL was about 6.5%.