Catalytic oxidation of ethylene and ethane to formaldehyde by oxygen

The selective oxidation of ethylene by oxygen produced formaldehyde with a single-pass yield of ∼30%∼30% at a temperature of 863 K and a contact time of 0.08 s g cm−3 over a mesoporous silica (SBA-15)-supported molybdenum oxide catalyst. Oligomeric MoOx species and polymeric MoOx clusters were responsible for this reaction. The exploitation of a double-bed catalytic reaction mode containing Dy2O3Li+MgOCl− and MoOx/SBA-15 as the upstream, and the downstream catalysts converted ethane directly to formaldehyde by oxygen with a single-pass yield of 14% at 863 K.