The slow combustion of ethane at high pressures

Abstract

In 1904 the slow combustion of ethane at atmospheric pressure was shown by Bone and Stockings to proceed smoothly without any separation of carbon or liberation of hydrogen, via acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, formic and carbonic acids to the ultimate production of oxides of carbon and steam, as though the process really involved a series of successive hydroxylations. A more recent study of the same reaction by Bone and Hill† shows it to be preceded by an “induction period” during which practically no oxidation occurs. Moreover, although ethyl alcohol was not identified among the products of oxidation, there was strong indirect evidence that C 2 H 6 O (or possibly even some less oxygenated-ethane) had been initially formed. At the temperature at which ethane and oxygen interact with measurable velocity at atmospheric pressure ethyl alcohol oxidizes so very rapidly that the chances of its surviving in the products are remote. For this reason upholders of the hydroxylation theory have always postulated a “non-stop” run through the mono-hydroxy to the di-hydroxy stage, the first identifiable intermediate product being acetaldehyde, thus: CH 3 CH 3 CH 3 CH 3 | → | → | → + H 2 O, etc. CH 3 CH 2 OH CH(OH) 2 CHO