A relatively simple model has been used to simulate the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene in a fixed-bed reactor. Full account of the kinetics of the main oxygen-consuming reaction have been incorporated in the model using previously published kinetics for the reaction over a Mo-V-Nb catalyst. Use of a distributed oxygen feed enables the problem of the feed flammability to be avoided and in addition, shows a significant improvement on reactor performance in terms of ethylene yield and selectivity. A distributed oxygen feed also overcomes the problem of reaction runaway and enables operation to be achieved over a wider range of reactor parameters.