The partial oxidation of propane on mixed metal oxides—A short overview

The partial oxidation of propane on Mo-V-Te-Nb mixed oxides has been intensively studied. Considerable knowledge concerning the preparation of the catalyst and its phase composition was gained and led to an improvement of the performance in the one-step approach to acrylic acid. The results indicate the existence of a limit of the maximum yield which can be obtained so far. Recently much attention has been paid to the partial oxidation of propane to acrylic acid on multi-component mixed oxide catalysts in view of the development of a one-step industrial process. Much progress has been made in the understanding of the different parameters of the reacting systems but sufficient performance of the catalysts has still not been attained. The actual situation is described in a short overview and the remaining problems are pointed out.