Vapor-phase catalytic dehydration of 1,4-butanediol was investigated over rare earth oxides supported on ZrO2. In the dehydration of 1,4-butanediol, 3-buten-1-ol was mainly produced, together with tetrahydrofuran (THF) and gamma-butyrolactone. The heavy group of rare earth oxides, such as Dy2O3, Ho2O3, Er2O3, Tm2O3, Yb2O3, and Lu2O3, supported on monoclinic ZrO2 showed higher selectivity to 3-buten-1-ol than pure monoclinic ZrO2 and supported light rare earth oxides. such as La2O3 and Pr6O11. Supported Yb2O3 catalysts dispersed on other oxides, such as alumina, silica, and tetragonal ZrO2 catalyze the formation of THF. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements reveal that cubic Yb2O3 crystallites dispersed on monoclinic ZrO2 provide active sites in the dehydration of 1,4-butanediol to produce 3-buten-1-ol. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.