Multicomponent MoVSbNbGdOx/SiO2 catalyst in oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane: Effect of Gd on catalytic properties

The results obtained in this study show that Sb-containing catalysts MoVSbNbGdOx/SiO2 are highly active in ethane oxidative dehydrogenation to produce ethylene. The ethylene yield of 72% (79.3% ethylene selectivity and 91.1% ethane conversion) was obtained at 400 C on one of the best catalyst. The effect of Gd additives on the catalytic properties of MoVSbNbGdOx/SiO2 catalysts was investigated. The catalysts with Gd/Mo = 0.010 - 0.015 demonstrated relatively high catalytic activity coupled with high selectivity to ethylene and excellent stability in ODE reaction, but further growth of the gadolinium content (Gd/Mo = 0.02) was accompanied by the decrease in the activity and ethylene selectivity. XRD, HRTEM, SEM, XPS and adsorption methods were used to reveal the phase composition, morphology and the structure of the obtained catalysts.