Abstract
Propene ammoxidation to acrylonitrile (ACN) over bismuth molybdate-based catalysts has been commercialized for more than 60 years. To meet forecasted growth, there is an opportunity for smaller-scale, decentralized ACN production. Forced dynamic operation (FDO), here referring to step changes in reactant inlet concentrations, has been used in low-volume production applications and has shown advantages in partial oxidation reactions. As a proof-of-concept study to evaluate FDO for acrylonitrile production, we applied periodic changes in inlet gas concentrations that varied between one phase containing all reactants and another that just contained O2, over an industrial bismuth molybdate-based catalyst. We varied the cycle period, duty cycle, and O2 concentration in the second phase and show that improved acrylonitrile yields can be obtained compared with those of steady-state operation under certain conditions. A correlation between lattice oxygen availability and FDO performance was observed.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 119585 |
| Journal | Applied Catalysis A: General |
| Volume | 672 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 25 2024 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
The research was financially supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy ( EERE ) under the Advanced Manufacturing Office, Award Number DE-EE0009410 . We also thank INEOS Nitriles for the catalyst sample supplied. Z. Gan thanks the help from Dr. Yu-Ren Chen for transient data analysis.
Keywords
- Acrylonitrile
- Bismuth molybdate
- Forced dynamic operation
- Lattice oxygen
- Propene ammoxidation