The impact of SBA-15 support properties on the catalytic performance of final VOx/SBA-15 catalysts for the selective oxidation of methane toward formaldehyde was studied. Three different SBA-15 support samples were prepared by varying the ageing temperature (50, 70, 90 degrees C; 24 h each). Afterwards, vanadium oxide species were deposited by a generally known impregnation procedure. Catalytic tests were carried out in a fixed bed tubular reactor at 540-650 degrees C, a feed molar ratio of CH4: O-2 = 9: 1 and at a gas-hourly space velocity of 360,000 L/(kg(cat).h). Among the three catalysts, the highest formaldehyde selectivity was obtained with the sample aged at 70 degrees C. Characterizations carried out by nitrogen physisorption, XRD, UV-vis spectroscopy and SEM revealed that the ageing temperature has a considerable influence on pore diameters, surface areas as well as the particle morphology of SBA-15. It is suggested that pore geometry as well as particle morphology have a considerable influence on the generation of various vanadia species and thus, on the catalytic performance of VOx/SBA-15 catalysts. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.