Bismuth molybdate catalysts synthesized using spray drying for the selective oxidation of propylene Original Research Article

In this study, a novel method—spray drying—was applied to synthesize bismuth molybdate catalysts for selective oxidation of propylene. The phenomena which occur during the synthesis of α, β and γ phases were examined by TGA/DTA, XRD, Raman and IR techniques allowing us to establish the best conditions to synthesize pure phases. The influences of temperature and time on their morphology and surface area were also investigated by BET and SEM. The pure phases obtained were tested for catalytic activities with the oxidation of propylene into acrolein. The results revealed that spray drying can be applied to replace for conventional synthesis methods, which opens interesting industrial applications. In addition, by permitting the synthesis of high purity single phase material, spray drying improves our understanding of the formation and interactions of these catalytic materials.