Ethane oxidative dehydrogenation and acetic acid recovery

A process for oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane, comprising the steps of:

• (a) feeding a gas stream comprising ethane and propane to a distillation column to obtain a stream comprising propane and a stream comprising ethane;
• (b) feeding at least a part of the gas stream comprising ethane obtained in step (a) to a reactor;
• (c) contacting, in the reactor, oxygen and ethane and optionally ethylene with a catalyst comprising a mixed metal oxide;
• (d) cooling the reactor effluent and, simultaneously and/or in a subsequent step, add water to the reactor effluent to obtain a liquid stream comprising water and acetic acid and a gas stream comprising ethylene;
• (e) recovering the acetic acid from the liquid stream obtained in step (d) by means of solvent extraction;
• wherein at least 50 wt % of the mixed metal oxide in the catalyst used in step (c) is in the orthorhombic M1 crystalline phase;
• and
• wherein the mixed metal oxide in the catalyst used in step (c) comprises:
• molybdenum, vanadium and antimony, or
• molybdenum, vanadium, niobium and optionally tellurium or antimony.