Ethylene production via photocatalytic dehydrogenation of ethane using LaMn1−xCuxO3

Rui Song, Guanshu Zhao, Juan Manuel Restrepo-Flórez, Camilo J. Viasus Pérez, Zhijie Chen, Chaoqian Ai, Andrew Wang, Dengwei Jing, Athanasios A. Tountas, Jiuli Guo, Chengliang Mao, Chaoran Li, Jiahui Shen, Guangming Cai, Chenyue Qiu, Jessica Ye, Yubin Fu, Chistos T. Maravelias, Lu Wang, Junchuan Sun, Yang-Fan Xu, Zhao Li, Joel Yi Yang Loh, Nhat Truong Nguyen, Le He (), Xiaohong Zhang () and Geoffrey A. Ozin ()
Additional contact information
Rui Song: Soochow University
Guanshu Zhao: University of Toronto
Juan Manuel Restrepo-Flórez: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Camilo J. Viasus Pérez: University of Toronto
Zhijie Chen: Soochow University
Chaoqian Ai: Xi’an Jiaotong University
Andrew Wang: University of Toronto
Dengwei Jing: Xi’an Jiaotong University
Athanasios A. Tountas: University of Toronto
Jiuli Guo: University of Toronto
Chengliang Mao: University of Toronto
Chaoran Li: Soochow University
Jiahui Shen: Soochow University
Guangming Cai: University of Toronto
Chenyue Qiu: University of Toronto
Jessica Ye: University of Toronto
Yubin Fu: Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics
Chistos T. Maravelias: Princeton University
Lu Wang: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Shenzhen
Junchuan Sun: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Shenzhen
Yang-Fan Xu: University of Toronto
Zhao Li: University of Toronto
Joel Yi Yang Loh: University of Toronto
Nhat Truong Nguyen: Concordia University
Le He: Soochow University
Xiaohong Zhang: Soochow University
Geoffrey A. Ozin: University of Toronto

Nature Energy, 2024, vol. 9, issue 6, 750-760

Abstract: Abstract Industrial-scale ethylene production occurs primarily by fossil-powered steam cracking of ethane—a high-temperature, high-energy process. An alternative, photochemical, pathway powered by sunlight and operating under ambient conditions could potentially mitigate some of the associated greenhouse gas emissions. Here we report the photocatalytic dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene and hydrogen using LaMn1−xCuxO3. This perovskite oxide possesses redox-active Lewis acid sites, comprising Mn(III) and Mn(IV), and Lewis base sites, comprising O(-II) and OH(-I), collectively dubbed surface-frustrated Lewis pairs. We find that tuning the relative proportions of these sites optimizes the activity, selectivity and yield for ethane dehydrogenation. The highest ethylene production rate and ethane conversion achieved were around 1.1 mmol g−1 h−1 and 4.9%, respectively. We show a simple outdoor prototype to demonstrate the viability of a solar ethylene process. In addition, techno-economic analysis revealed the economic potential of an industrial-scale solar ethylene production from ethane.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41560-024-01541-7

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