B2O3 supported La0.8Sr0.2FeO3 for direct ethane oxidation into ethylene and syngas for hydroformylation synthesis

Hydroformylation is an important reaction for aldehyde synthesis and requires ethylene and syngas (CO + H2) with the feedstocks. While these feedstocks are typically synthesized separately, it would be highly desirable to directly convert abundant ethane into ethylene and syngas in a single step. In this work, we loaded B2O3 onto perovskite La0.8Sr0.2FeO3 (LSF) and formed a core–shell structured catalyst, with B2O3 and Sr3B2O6 being the shell and LSF being the core. The shell structure can substantially inhibit deep oxidation of ethane into CO2 and the optimized La0.8Sr0.2FeO3@20B2O3 can achieve 69.2% ethane conversion and 88.8% ethylene + syngas selectivity at 700 °C with good stability, with a ratio of CO/H2 close to 1 : 1. The effects of reaction temperature, space velocity, B2O3 loading, and La/Sr were also investigated. This catalyst marks a promising progress for the direct oxidation of ethane and has good potential for industrial applications.