Autocatalytic gas-phase ethane dehydrogenation in a wall-less reactor

The thermal gas-phase pyrolysis of ethane was studied under conditions of the bulk heating of the reaction mixture with IR-laser radiation. The concentrations of ethane pyrolysis products as functions of reaction time were calculated in accordance with standard kinetic schemes; they showed that a classical radical chain mechanism corresponded to only highly dilute mixtures of ethane with an inert gas. As found by calculations, the experimental data on the kinetics of consumption of the initial substance and on the kinetics of buildup of pyrolysis products in undiluted mixtures of ethane and its conversion products were adequately described by an autocatalytic (with respect to ethylene) mechanism of ethane dehydrogenation. This mechanism involved the step of ethane interaction with ethylene to form methyl and propyl radicals.