A kinetic and surface study of the oxidation of ethane by nitrous oxide and by oxygen over manganese(III) oxide
The kinetics of the nitrous oxide/ethane and oxygen/ethane reactions on manganese(III) oxide have been studied from 573 to 673 K and from 523 to 593 K, respectively. The apparent activation energy for carbon dioxide formation was 130 ± 4 kJ mol−1 in both reactions while that for nitrogen formation in the nitrous oxide/ethane reaction changed from 106 ± 4 kJ mol−1, 573–613 K, to 133 ± 4 kJ mol−, 623–673 K. The kinetic results for both reactions fit the same rate equation:[Formula: see text]where px represents either [Formula: see text]. The rate-controlling step has been associated with the interaction of adsorbed species on the catalyst surface while both ethane and the oxidising gas appear to be directly involved in further steps in the mechanism. Samples were analysed routinely by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, and infrared spectroscopy. Electron spectroscopy results from samples treated in various ways with hydrocarbon/oxidant mixtures gave O(1s) values from 528.7 to 529.7 eV which are indicative of binding energies usually associated with chemisorbed oxygen. No N(1s) spectrum was obtained from catalysts exposed to hydrocarbon/nitrous oxide mixtures, in agreement with the absence of bands in the infrared which are usually associated with nitrates or nitrogen/oxygen complexes. A binding energy value of 406.5 eV was measured in the comparable N(1s) spectrum of a catalyst used at 623 K for the oxidation of ethane by nitric oxide — a result which confirms conclusions from previous surface studies on the same system using infrared spectroscopy.