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Topic: Ethane to Methane Conversion  (Read 19428 times)

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Offline shehri

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Ethane to Methane Conversion
« on: February 24, 2007, 11:04:48 PM »
Hi all,

        I've been striving to find a way of coverting Ethane to Methane but in vain.I know how to convert lower Hydro Carbons to Higher ones by first converting them to Alkyl Halydes.Plz. suggest me how to convert Ethane to Methane?Thanks.

Offline Alberto_Kravina

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Re: Ethane to Methane Conversion
« Reply #1 on: February 25, 2007, 12:28:56 PM »
Hi all,

        I've been striving to find a way of coverting Ethane to Methane but in vain.I know how to convert lower Hydro Carbons to Higher ones by first converting them to Alkyl Halydes.Plz. suggest me how to convert Ethane to Methane?Thanks.
Well, I have an idea (maybe there is a simpler method to solve this problem, but however, here's what I suggest...)

Ethane ? Ethene + H2
Ehtene + O3 ? CH2O
CH2O + LiAlH4 ? CH3OH
CH3OH + HCl ? CH3Cl + H2O
CH3Cl + Mg ? CH3MgCl
CH3MgCl + H2O ? CH4 + MgOHCl

Offline movies

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Re: Ethane to Methane Conversion
« Reply #2 on: February 25, 2007, 12:49:16 PM »
Are you familiar with thermal cracking?  I'm not sure if it works for ethane to methane, but it works for bigger alkanes.

Offline Dan

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Re: Ethane to Methane Conversion
« Reply #3 on: February 25, 2007, 01:27:26 PM »
Well, I have an idea (maybe there is a simpler method to solve this problem, but however, here's what I suggest...)

From formaldehyde, you could do a Wolf-Kishner, Mozingo, or Clemmenson reduction. That cuts out a few steps.
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Offline AhmedEzatAlzawalaty

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Re: Ethane to Methane Conversion
« Reply #4 on: February 28, 2007, 09:06:49 AM »
i think thermal cracking works but on a large scale.

Offline Custos

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Re: Ethane to Methane Conversion
« Reply #5 on: March 01, 2007, 06:47:15 PM »
Are you trying to do this for real or is it an intellectual exercise?

You could simply burn the ethane to give CO2 and water and then reduce the carbon dioxide to methane with hydrogen over a cobalt oxide catalyst. It's a pretty pointless exercise to do in real life, but this way is a two step synthesis - better than the ozonolysis route but not as short as cracking ;)

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