Chemical Looping Conversion Of Ethane To Ethanol Via Photo-Assisted Nitration Of Ethane

Ethane is an abundant and cheap hydrocarbon. Selective conversion of ethane to ethanol has economic value but is difficult to achieve due to overoxidation. Here, we report a chemical looping strategy established to selectively convert ethane (C2H6) to ethanol (C2H5OH) using molecular oxygen (O-2) as the end oxidant and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) as a relay oxidant. Visible light is used to excite NO2 to drive a radical reaction with C2H6 to produce ethyl nitrate (C2H5ONO2) at-10 degrees C with a selectivity of >80% and an ethane conversion of >90%. C2H5ONO2 is hydrolyzed to generate C2H5OH and nitric acid (HNO3), thus completing a chemical loop for the conversion of ethane to ethanol. DFT calculations show that the introduction of light overcomes the barrier of ethane activation at a relatively low temperature and thus avoids ethyl nitrate decomposition and overoxidation, leading to the high selectivity of ethyl nitrate.