ABSTRACT:The oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of cyclohexane with air was studied on a 10 w/w% V 2 O 5 /Al 2 O 3 catalyst modified by different weight percentage (wt%) cerium loadings. The catalysts employed were characterized by N 2 adsorption, O 2 chemisorption, TEM, XRD and FT-IR spectroscopy. Benzene and cyclohexene were the main components of the products, with the benzene and cyclohexene selectivities depending on the wt% cerium loading, the order of cerium and vanadium impregnation, and the reaction temperature. The best cyclohexane conversion and good benzene selectivity were obtained at 500°C using a vanadium catalyst modified by 10 wt% cerium. The same catalyst exhibited a maximum selectivity for cyclohexene at 300°C.Different types of vanadyl species present in the system were identified by IR measurements. Thus, vanadium-oxygen clusters were detected in the V 2 O 5 /Al 2 O 3 material, although such clusters were not found in the cerium-vanadium catalysts. Polymeric CeVO 4 species were detected in cerium-modified V 2 O 5 /Al 2 O 3 catalysts by XRD. The concentration of these species depended on the wt% cerium loading and the order of cerium and vanadium impregnation on alumina. The selectivity of cerium-modified V 2 O 5 /Al 2 O 3 catalysts towards cyclohexene was attributed mainly to the presence of such polymeric CeVO 4 species. Oxygen chemisorption and electronic microscopic studies attributed the marked improvement in cyclohexane conversion of the cerium-vanadium samples to the presence of relatively high-dispersed vanadium species.