Patent ID: 8193387
Filing Date: 2012-06-05
Classification: B01J,C07C,Y02P

Abstract:
1. A method for producing an unsaturated carboxylic acid comprising: contacting a feed comprising propane and an oxygen-containing gas with a catalyst composition in a reaction zone under conditions which produce a product gas comprising acrylic acid, unreacted propane and byproduct propylene; recovering the unreacted propane and the byproduct propylene from the product gas; and recycling without separation of the recovered unreacted propane and the recovered byproduct propylene to the reaction zone; wherein the propane:oxygen molar ratio of the feed is 2:1 to 0.625:1, and wherein said catalyst composition comprises: wherein Mo is molybdenum, V is vanadium, Nb is niobium and M is one or more elements selected from the group consisting of tellurium, antimony, silver, bismuth, gallium and potassium; a is 0.1 to 0.5; b is 0.1 to 0.5; c is 0.1 to 0.5; and x is determined by the valence requirements of the other components of the catalyst composition.