V₂O₅/TiO₂ catalysts were prepared by depositing vanadia on nano-particles of anatase TiO₂ and tested for oxidation of 1,2-dichlorobenzene. Activity of the catalyst can be enhanced by adding MoO₃ to the catalysts and introducing sulfur-containing compounds to the reaction system. Kinetic studies indicate that addition of MoO₃ reduces the apparent activation energy slightly and increases the pre-exponential factors at reaction temperatures higher than 350 °C; in contrast, introduction of sulfur-containing compounds only increases the pre-exponential factors. XRD and FT-IR results indicate that MoO₃ disperses vanadia species and induces formation of crystalline MoV₂O₈ during the reaction, whereas introduction of sulfur-containing compounds leads to no significant structure change. Based on these characterizations and analyses of the kinetic results, we suggest that increased catalyst acidity results in higher pre-exponential factors, while structure change in vanadia species leads to reduction in apparent activation energy.The research was conducted at the NSRRC beamline 01C2.

H.-Y. Chang, S.-P. Wang, J.-R. Chang, H.-S. Sheu, S.-G. Shyu