| Over the past two decades, research efforts in both academic and industrial laboratories have been devoted to the conversion of light alkanes to corresponding olefins at low temperatures. The production routes for the conversion of ethane to ethylene have been extensively reviewed. Conventionally, ethylene is produced by steam cracking but oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane with oxygen seems to be a promising alternative with lower energy requirements. This report discusses the development of an efficient Ni-Nb-Ta oxides catalyst for the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane. Characterization of the catalyst by AAS, ICP-OES, SEM, and XRD techniques revealed the molar composition of the catalyst to be N10.60 Nb0.26 Ta0.10 Ox. The catalyst converts 13.31% of ethane with 61.95% selectivity to ethylene at 300°C and shows consistent activity results obtained on a scale-up study. Over transition metal oxides, ethane oxidative dehydrogenation is proposed to proceed via a heterogeneous redox mechanism of Mars and van Krevelen. A reaction scheme has been concluded based on various research findings. |
