Reactions of CO<sub>2</sub> and ethane enable CO bond insertion for production of C3 oxygenates.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32313008.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-15849-x and PMC identifier 7170877.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Reacting CO<sub>2</sub> and ethane to synthesize value-added oxygenate molecules represents opportunities to simultaneously reduce CO<sub>2</sub> emissions and upgrade underutilized ethane in shale gas. Herein, we propose a strategy to produce C3 oxygenates using a tandem reactor. This strategy is achieved with a Fe<sub>3</sub>Ni<sub>1</sub>/CeO<sub>2</sub> catalyst (first reactor at 600-800 °C) for CO<sub>2</sub>-assisted dehydrogenation and reforming of ethane to produce ethylene, CO, and H<sub>2</sub>, and a RhCo<sub>x</sub>/MCM-41 catalyst (second reactor at 200 °C) enabling CO insertion for the production of C3 oxygenates (propanal and 1-propanol) via the heterogeneous hydroformylation reaction at ambient pressure. In-situ characterization using synchrotron spectroscopies and density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal the effect of Rh-Co bimetallic formation in facilitating the production of C3 oxygenates. The proposed strategy provides an opportunity for upgrading light alkanes in shale gas by reacting with CO<sub>2</sub> to produce aldehydes and alcohols.