Ammoxidation of ethane to acetonitrile over metal-zeolite catalysts

Ammoxidation of ethane to acetonitrile was studied over a variety of metal ion exchanged zeolite catalysts. We discovered that ethane can be efficiently converted to acetonitrile over some Co-zeolite catalysts. The type of zeolite is very important. In this regard, ZSM-5, beta, and NU-87 are superior to others. Among various transition metal cations, Co2+ is most active for acetonitrile formation. Kinetic studies on Co-ZSM-5 show that the nitrile formation rate is first order in NH3, 0.5 order in C2H6, and 0.8 order in O-2 In the absence of O-2, no reaction occurs. A reaction scheme is proposed, whereby C2H4, a reactive intermediate, is thought to add to a strongly adsorbed NH3 forming an adsorbed ethylamine, which is subsequently dehydrogenated to form C2H3N. (C) 1998 Academic Press.