Effect of methane co-feeding on the selectivity of ethylene produced from oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane with CO2 over a Ni-La/SiO2 catalyst

A Ni-La/SiO₂ catalyst was prepared through the incipient wetness impregnation method and tested in the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane (ODHE) with CO₂. The fresh and used catalysts were characterized by XRD and SEM techniques. The Ni-La/SiO₂ catalyst exhibited catalytic activity for the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane, but with low ethylene selectivity in the absence of methane. The selectivity to ethylene increased with increasing molar ratio of methane in the feed. The carbon deposited on the catalyst surface in the sole ODHE with CO₂ was mainly inert carbon, while much more filamentous carbon was formed in the presence of methane. The filamentous carbon was easy to be removed by CO₂, which might play a role in improving the conversion of ethane to ethylene. The introduction of methane might affect the equilibrium of the CO₂ reforming of ethane and the ODHE with CO₂. As a consequence, the synthesis gas produced from CO₂ reforming of methane partly inhibited the reaction of ethane and promoted the ODHE with CO₂, thus increasing the selectivity of ethylene.     

低碳烷烃与二氧化碳催化转化研究进展

页岩气革命为低碳经济发展提供了重要契机.在低碳烷烃(甲烷和乙烷)催化转化过程中,以二氧化碳作为氧化剂参与反应,通过C-H键的选择性活化可将页岩气转化为优质化工原料——合成气和乙烯,是一种低碳烷烃转化与二氧化碳资源化利用的工艺路线.本文总结了近年来甲烷干重整与乙烷和二氧化碳反应中与C-H键活化相关的研究进展,分析了甲烷干...     

Adsorptive Separation of Acetylene from Light Hydrocarbons by Mesoporous Iron Trimesate MIL‐100(Fe)

A reducible metal–organic framework (MOF), iron(III) trimesate, denoted as MIL‐100(Fe), was investigated for the separation and purification of methane/ethane/ethylene/acetylene and an acetylene/CO₂ mixtures by using sorption isotherms, breakthrough experiments, ideal adsorbed solution theory (IAST) calculations, and IR spectroscopic analysis. The MIL‐100(Fe) showed high adsorption selectivity not only for acetylene and ethylene over methane and ethane, but also for acetylene over CO₂. The separation and purification of acetylene over ethylene was also possible for MIL‐100(Fe) activated at 423 K. According to the data obtained from operando IR spectroscopy, the unsaturated Fe^III sites and surface OH groups are mainly responsible for the successful separation of the acetylene/ethylene mixture, whereas the unsaturated Fe^II sites have a detrimental effect on both separation and purification. The potential of MIL‐100(Fe) for the separation of a mixture of C₂H₂/CO₂ was also examined by using the IAST calculations and transient breakthrough simulations. Comparing the IAST selectivity calculations of C₂H₂/CO₂ for four MOFs selected from the literature, the selectivity with MIL‐100(Fe) was higher than those of CuBTC, ZJU‐60a, and PCP‐33, but lower than that of HOF‐3.     

Catalytic performance of silica-supported chromium oxide catalysts in ethane dehydrogenation with carbon dioxide

The oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane into ethylene by CO₂ over a series of silica-supported chromium oxide catalysts was investigated. The results showed that the catalysts were effective for the reaction and CO₂ in the feed promoted the catalytic activity. The 5%Cr/SiO₂ catalyst exhibited the excellent performance with 30.7% ethane conversion and 96.5% ethylene selectivity at 700^oC. ESR and UV-DRS were used to probe the active sites and the species with high valent states (Cr⁵⁺ and/or Cr⁶⁺) were found to be important for the reaction.     

Non-catalytic pyrolysis of ethane to ethylene in the presence of CO2 with or without limited O2

Influence of the presence of CO₂, which is a mild oxidant, on the performance of the thermal cracking of ethane to ethylene in the absence or presence of limited O₂ at different temperatures (750–900‡C), space velocities (1500–9000 h^-1) and CO₂/C₂H₆ and O₂/C₂H₆ mole ratios (0–2.0 and 0–0.3 respectively) has been investigated. In both the presence and absence of limited O₂, ethane conversion increases markedly because of the presence of CO₂, indicating its beneficial effect on the ethane to ethylene cracking. The increased ethane conversion is, however, not due to the oxidation of ethane to ethylene by CO₂; the formation of carbon monoxide in the presence of CO₂ is found to be very small. It is most probably due to the activation of ethane in the presence of CO₂.     

Conversion of CO2 and C2H6 to Propanoic Acid over a Au‐Exchanged MCM‐22 Zeolite

Finding novel catalysts for the direct conversion of CO₂ to fuels and chemicals is a primary goal in energy and environmental research. In this work, density functional theory (DFT) is used to study possible reaction mechanisms for the conversion of CO₂ and C₂H₆ to propanoic acid over a gold‐exchanged MCM‐22 zeolite catalyst. The reaction begins with the activation of ethane to produce a gold ethyl hydride intermediate. Hydrogen transfers to the framework oxygen leads then to gold ethyl adsorbed on the Brønsted‐acid site. The energy barriers for these steps of ethane activation are 9.3 and 16.3 kcal mol^?1, respectively. Two mechanisms of propanoic acid formation are investigated. In the first one, the insertion of CO₂ into the Au?H bond of the first intermediate yields gold carboxyl ethyl as subsequent intermediate. This is then converted to propanoic acid by forming the relevant C?C bond. The activation energy of the rate‐determining step of this pathway is 48.2 kcal mol^?1. In the second mechanism, CO₂ interacts with gold ethyl adsorbed on the Brønsted‐acid site. Propanoic acid is formed via protonation of CO₂ by the Brønsted acid and the simultaneous formation of a bond between CO₂ and the ethyl group. The activation energy there is 44.2 kcal mol^?1, favoring this second pathway at least at low temperatures. Gold‐exchanged MCM‐22 zeolite can therefore, at least in principle, be used as the catalyst for producing propanoic acid from CO₂ and ethane.     

Enhancing Activity and Reducing Cost for Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 by Supporting Palladium on Metal Carbides

Electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) with renewable electricity is a potentially sustainable method to reduce CO₂ emissions. Palladium supported on cost‐effective transition‐metal carbides (TMCs) are studied to reduce the Pd usage and tune the activity and selectivity of the CO₂RR to produce synthesis gas, using a combined approach of studying thin films and practical powder catalysts, in situ characterization, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Notably, Pd/TaC exhibits higher CO₂RR activity, stability and CO Faradaic efficiency than those of commercial Pd/C while significantly reducing the Pd loading. In situ measurements confirm the transformation of Pd into hydride (PdH) under the CO₂RR environment. DFT calculations reveal that the TMC substrates modify the binding energies of key intermediates on supported PdH. This work suggests the prospect of using TMCs as low‐cost and stable substrates to support and modify Pd for enhanced CO₂RR activity.     

Structural Optimization of Interpenetrated Pillared‐Layer Coordination Polymers for Ethylene/Ethane Separation

With the goal of achieving effective ethylene/ethane separation, we evaluated the gas sorption properties of four pillared‐layer‐type porous coordination polymers with double interpenetration, [Zn₂(tp)₂(bpy)]_n ( 1 ), [Zn₂(fm)₂(bpe)]_n ( 2 ), [Zn₂(fm)₂(bpa)]_n ( 3 ), and [Zn₂(fm)₂(bpy)]_n ( 4 ) (tp=terephthalate, bpy=4,4′‐bipyridyl, fm=fumarate, bpe=1,2‐di(4‐pyridyl)ethylene and bpa=1,2‐di(4‐pyridyl)ethane). It was found that 4 , which contains the narrowest pores of all of these compounds, exhibited ethylene‐selective sorption profiles. The ethylene selectivity of 4 was estimated to be 4.6 at 298 K based on breakthrough experiments using ethylene/ethane gas mixtures. In addition, 4 exhibited a good regeneration ability compared with a conventional porous material.     

Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Ethane to Ethylene over LiCl/MnOx/PC Catalysts

The catalytic stability of LiCl/MnO_x/PC catalyst have been investigated, the deactivation mechanism was discussed. The experimental results show that ethane conversion decreases and ethylene selectivity keeps about 90% as reaction time increases. The main deactivation reasons of LiCl/MnO_x/PC catalyst for oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane (ODHE) to ethylene are the transition of active species Mn₂O₃ to MnO species and the loss of active component Cl in catalyst. Instead of ethane with FCC tailed‐gas, the stability of LiCl/MnO_x/PC catalyst has been largely improved.     

Methanol Synthesis at a Wide Range of H2/CO2 Ratios over a Rh‐In Bimetallic Catalyst

There is increasing interest in capturing H₂ generated from renewables with CO₂ to produce methanol. However, renewable hydrogen production is expensive and in limited quantity compared to CO₂. Excess CO₂ and limited H₂ in the feedstock gas is not favorable for CO₂ hydrogenation to methanol, causing low activity and poor methanol selectivity. Now, a class of Rh‐In catalysts with optimal adsorption properties to the intermediates of methanol production is presented. The Rh‐In catalyst can effectively catalyze methanol synthesis but inhibit the reverse water‐gas shift reaction under H₂‐deficient gas flow and shows the best competitive methanol productivity under industrially applicable conditions in comparison with reported values. This work demonstrates a strong potential of Rh‐In bimetallic composition, from which a convenient methanol synthesis based on flexible feedstock compositions (such as H₂/CO₂ from biomass derivatives) with lower energy cost can be established.     

Reversible chemisorption of carbon dioxide: simultaneous production of fuel-cell grade H2 and compressed CO2 from synthesis gas

One vision of clean energy for the future is to produce hydrogen from coal in an ultra-clean plant. The conventional route consists of reacting the coal gasification product (after removal of trace impurities) with steam in a water gas shift (WGS) reactor to convert CO to CO₂ and H₂, followed by purification of the effluent gas in a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) unit to produce a high purity hydrogen product. PSA processes can also be designed to produce a CO₂ by-product at ambient pressure. This work proposes a novel concept called “Thermal Swing Sorption Enhanced Reaction (TSSER)” which simultaneously carries out the WGS reaction and the removal of CO₂ from the reaction zone by using a CO₂ chemisorbent in a single unit operation. The concept directly produces a fuel-cell grade H₂ and compressed CO₂ as a by-product gas. Removal of CO₂ from the reaction zone circumvents the equilibrium limitations of the reversible WGS reaction and enhances its forward rate of reaction. Recently measured sorption-desorption characteristics of two novel, reversible CO₂ chemisorbents (K₂CO₃ promoted hydrotalcite and Na₂O promoted alumina) are reviewed and the simulated performance of the proposed TSSER concept using the promoted hydrotalcite as the chemisorbent is reported.     

High CO2‐Capture Ability of a Porous Organic Polymer Bifunctionalized with Carboxy and Triazole Groups

A new porous organic polymer, SNU‐C1 , incorporating two different CO₂‐attracting groups, namely, carboxy and triazole groups, has been synthesized. By activating SNU‐C1 with two different methods, vacuum drying and supercritical‐CO₂ treatment, the guest‐free phases, SNU‐C1‐va and SNU‐C1‐sca , respectively, were obtained. Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface areas of SNU‐C1‐va and SNU‐C1‐sca are 595 and 830 m²g^?1, respectively, as estimated by the N₂‐adsorption isotherms at 77 K. At 298 K and 1 atm, SNU‐C1‐va and SNU‐C1‐sca show high CO₂ uptakes, 2.31 mmol g^?1 and 3.14 mmol g^?1, respectively, the high level being due to the presence of abundant polar groups (carboxy and triazole) exposed on the pore surfaces. Five separation parameters for flue gas and landfill gas in vacuum‐swing adsorption were calculated from single‐component gas‐sorption isotherms by using the ideal adsorbed solution theory (IAST). The data reveal excellent CO₂‐separation abilities of SNU‐C1‐va and SNU‐C1‐sca , namely high CO₂‐uptake capacity, high selectivity, and high regenerability. The gas‐cycling experiments for the materials and the water‐treated samples, experiments that involved treating the samples with a CO₂‐N₂ gas mixture (15:85, v/v) followed by a pure N₂ purge, further verified the high regenerability and water stability. The results suggest that these materials have great potential applications in CO₂ separation.     

Morphology‐Directed Selective Production of Ethylene or Ethane from CO2 on a Cu Mesopore Electrode

The electrocatalytic conversion of CO₂ to value‐added hydrocarbons is receiving significant attention as a promising way to close the broken carbon‐cycle. While most metal catalysts produce C₁ species, such as carbon monoxide and formate, the production of various hydrocarbons and alcohols comprising more than two carbons has been achieved using copper (Cu)‐based catalysts only. Methods for producing specific C₂ reduction outcomes with high selectivity, however, are not available thus far. Herein, the morphological effect of a Cu mesopore electrode on the selective production of C₂ products, ethylene or ethane, is presented. Cu mesopore electrodes with precisely controlled pore widths and depths were prepared by using a thermal deposition process on anodized aluminum oxide. With this simple synthesis method, we demonstrated that C₂ chemical selectivity can be tuned by systematically altering the morphology. Supported by computational simulations, we proved that nanomorphology can change the local pH and, additionally, retention time of key intermediates by confining the chemicals inside the pores.     

C−C Bond Formation in Syngas Conversion over Zinc Sites Grafted on ZSM‐5 Zeolite

Despite significant progress achieved in Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) technology, control of product selectivity remains a challenge in syngas conversion. Herein, we demonstrate that Zn²⁺‐ion exchanged ZSM‐5 zeolite steers syngas conversion selectively to ethane with its selectivity reaching as high as 86 % among hydrocarbons (excluding CO₂) at 20 % CO conversion. NMR spectroscopy, X‐ray absorption spectroscopy, and X‐ray fluorescence indicate that this is likely attributed to the highly dispersed Zn sites grafted on ZSM‐5. Quasi‐in‐situ solid‐state NMR, obtained by quenching the reaction in liquid N₂, detects C₂ species such as acetyl (‐COCH₃) bonding with an oxygen, ethyl (‐CH₂CH₃) bonding with a Zn site, and epoxyethane molecules adsorbing on a Zn site and a Brønsted acid site of the catalyst, respectively. These species could provide insight into C?C bond formation during ethane formation. Interestingly, this selective reaction pathway toward ethane appears to be general because a series of other Zn²⁺‐ion exchanged aluminosilicate zeolites with different topologies (for example, SSZ‐13, MCM‐22, and ZSM‐12) all give ethane predominantly. By contrast, a physical mixture of ZnO‐ZSM‐5 favors formation of hydrocarbons beyond C₃₊. These results provide an important guide for tuning the product selectivity in syngas conversion.     

Pd‐Iminocarboxylate Complexes and Their Behavior in Ethylene Polymerization

Designing co‐catalyst‐free late transition metal complexes for ethylene polymerization is a challenging task at the interface of organometallic and polymer chemistry. Herein, a set of new, co‐catalyst‐free, single‐component catalytic systems for ethylene polymerization have been unraveled. Treatment of anthranilic acid with various aldehydes produced four iminocarboxylate ligands ( L1 – L4 ) in very good to excellent yield (75–92 %). The existence of 2‐((2‐methoxybenzylidene)amino) benzoic acid ( L1 ) has been unambiguously demonstrated using NMR spectroscopy, MS and single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. A neutral Pd‐iminocarboxylate complex [{N O}PdMe(L1)] (N O=κ²‐N,O‐ArCHNC₆H₄CO₂ with Ar=2‐MeOC₆H₄) C1 was prepared by treating stoichiometric amount of L1.Na with palladium precursor. The identity of C1 was confirmed by 1–2D NMR spectroscopy and single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction studies. Along the same lines, palladium complexes C2 – C4 were prepared from ligands L2 – L4 respectively. In‐situ high‐pressure NMR investigations revealed that these Pd complexes are amenable to ethylene insertion and undergo facile β‐H elimination to produce propylene. These palladium complexes were then evaluated in ethylene polymerization reaction and various reaction parameters were screened. When C1 – C4 were exposed to ethylene pressures of 10–50 bar, formation of low‐molecular‐weight polyethylene was observed.     

Controllable Hydrocarbon Formation from the Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 over Cu Nanowire Arrays

In this work, the effect of Cu nanowire morphology on the selective electrocatalytic reduction of CO₂ is presented. Cu nanowire arrays were prepared through a two‐step synthesis of Cu(OH)₂ and CuO nanowire arrays on Cu foil substrates and a subsequent electrochemical reduction of the CuO nanowire arrays to Cu nanowire arrays. By this simple synthesis method, Cu nanowire array electrodes with different length and density were able to be controllably synthesized. We show that the selectivity for hydrocarbons (ethylene, n‐propanol, ethane, and ethanol) on Cu nanowire array electrodes at a fixed potential can be tuned by systematically altering the Cu nanowire length and density. The nanowire morphology effect is linked to the increased local pH in the Cu nanowire arrays and a reaction scheme detailing the local pH‐induced formation of C₂ products is also presented by a preferred CO dimerization pathway.     

Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 to Ethane through Stabilization of an Ethoxy Intermediate

Electrochemical conversion of CO₂ into ethane is seldom observed because of the generally higher selectivity towards methane, ethylene, and ethanol. Consequently, little experimental evidence for its reaction mechanism exists and thus remains largely unknown. Now, by combining electrochemistry with in situ X-ray absorption fine-structure and in situ Raman techniques, iodide-derived copper (ID-Cu) and oxide-derived copper (OD-Cu) systems were studied to obtain a deeper understanding of the CO₂ to ethane mechanism. With trace iodine species on the surface and positively charged Cu species, production of ethane is significantly more favored on ID-Cu compared to OD-Cu, with higher selectivity and faster kinetics. For the first time, it is experimentally found that the formation of ethane follows the same pathway to ethylene and ethanol, and better stabilization of the late stage ethoxy intermediate can steer the reaction to ethane over ethanol.     

Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide on copper in methanol with various potassium supporting electrolytes at low temperature

The electrochemical reduction of CO₂ at a Cu electrode was investigated in a methanol-based electrolyte using such potassium supporting salts as CH₃COOK, KBr, KI and KSCN at extremely low temperature (−30 °C). The main products obtained from CO₂ by the electrochemical reduction were methane, ethylene, ethane, carbon monoxide and formic acid. The maximum Faradaic efficiency of ethylene was 19.9% in KI/methanol-based catholyte at −3.0 V vs. Ag/AgCl saturated KCl. The best methane formation (27.0%) was obtained in CH₃COOK/methanol electrolyte at −3.0 V. In the system containing a potassium halide, the efficiency of hydrogen formation, being a competitive reaction against CO₂ reduction, was suppressed to less than 8.1%. The product selectivity of the electrochemical reduction of CO₂ in methanol was greatly affected by the anionic species. This research can contribute to the large-scale manufacturing of useful organic products from readily available and cheap raw materials: CO₂-saturated methanol from industrial absorbers (the Rectisol process). Received: 11 November 1998 / Accepted: 1 February 1999     

Transition Metal Nitrides as Promising Catalyst Supports for Tuning CO/H2 Syngas Production from Electrochemical CO2 Reduction

The electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO₂RR) to produce synthesis gas (syngas) with tunable CO/H₂ ratios has been studied by supporting Pd catalysts on transition metal nitride (TMN) substrates. Combining experimental measurements and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, Pd‐modified niobium nitride (Pd/NbN) is found to generate much higher CO and H₂ partial current densities and greater CO Faradaic efficiency than Pd‐modified vanadium nitride (Pd/VN) and commercial Pd/C catalysts. In‐situ X‐ray diffraction identifies the formation of PdH in Pd/NbN and Pd/C under CO₂RR conditions, whereas the Pd in Pd/VN is not fully transformed into the active PdH phase. DFT calculations show that the stabilized *HOCO and weakened *CO intermediates on PdH/NbN are critical to achieving higher CO₂RR activity. This work suggests that NbN is a promising substrate to modify Pd, resulting in an enhanced electrochemical conversion of CO₂ to syngas with a potential reduction in precious metal loading.     

Effects of cross-linkers with different molecular weights in cross-linked Matrimid 5218 and test temperature on gas transport properties

The poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) was introduced by the cross-linking method in the commercial Matrimid 5218. The two kinds of membranes were prepared from the Matrimid 5218 and the cross-linkers poly(propylene glycol) block poly(ethylene glycol) block poly(propylene glycol) diamine (PPG/PEG/PPGDA) with different molecular weights. The cross-linking reaction process was monitored by FTIR. The cross-linked Matrimid 5218 membranes display excellent CO₂ permeability and CO₂/light gas selectivity. The effects of cross-linkers with different molecular weights on gel content, thermal properties and H₂, CO₂, N₂ and CH₄ gas transport properties were reported. The effect of temperature on gas transport properties was also reported, and the permeabilities of these materials as a function of temperature were compared with other gas membrane materials.