Vanadium, niobium and tantalum modified mesoporous molecular sieves as catalysts for propene epoxidation

SBA-3 mesoporous molecular sieves doped with transition metal ions (Fe, V, Nb and Ta) have been applied for selective oxidation of propene towards propylene oxide in the presence of N2O as an oxidant. The kind and amount of applied modifiers significantly affected the catalytic activity. V/SBA-3 was found to be the most active among the catalyst under study. In spite of relatively high selectivity towards propylene oxide (reaching up to 23%), the main oxidation product was still propionaldehyde. Surprisingly, COx was not formed over V, Nb and Ta modified SBA-3 catalysts. Additional modification of V containing samples (V/SBA-3) with iron complexes resulted in the further increase in the catalysts activity for epoxidation reaction. A PO selectivity of about 20% could be achieved at a propylene conversion of 17% over mixed Fe/V/SBA-3 catalytic system.