The modeling of oxidative dehydrogenation of propane over VOx/𝛾-Al2O3 catalyst in a bubbling fluidized bed was studied. The performance of the fluidized bed reactor was studied by using three different fluidization models with different hydrodynamic assumptions: simple two phase (STP) model, dynamic two phase (DTP) model and El-Halwagi and El-Rifai (SH) model. The models were validated using previously published experimental data. The effects of temperature, gas velocity, propane and oxygen concentration and bed height on propane conversion, product selectivity and propylene yield were investigated and discussed. The obtained results indicated that the SH model under-predicted the propane conversion. STP model with simplified hydrodynamic assumptions was only suitable when reaction temperature was low. The DTP model considering dynamically distribution of gas and solid could predict propane conversion and propylene selectivity with average relative errors of 16% and 2.5% respectively over a wide range of experimental data, which were more accurate than those of the STP and SH models.
