Modified Niobia As a New Catalyst for Selective Production of Dimethoxymethane from Methanol

Abstract

Synthetic niobia, after an innovative surface modification, was utilized for synthesis of dimethoxymethane (DMM) from methanol. A bifunctional niobium oxide, obtained by a previous treament with H2O2, presented a highly selective production of DMM in the liquid phase. The analysis of the product with mass spectrometry showed that dehydration/oxidation takes place to selectively produce DMM. The results strongly suggest that the simultaneous methanol dehydration and oxidation involves bifunctional properties of the niobias with acid sites and oxidizing species generated after the modification with H2O2, which were identified by Raman spectroscopy with a strong signal at 888 cm−1 assigned to ν(O−O) due to the peroxo species generated in modified niobia.