Biomass based oxygenates modified Fe-Mn oxide with improved surface lattice oxygen mobility for the chemical looping-oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene

Chemical looping-oxidative dehydrogenation (CL-ODH) is a promising technology for ethylene production from ethane. Exploring low cost and high activity redox catalysts to improve ethylene yield in the field of CL-ODH of ethane is necessary. In this study, a mesoporous Fe 0.4 Mn 0.6 O x redox catalyst with tunable lattice oxygen mobility was synthesized by a green solid-state grinding method, which used biomass based oxygenates as pore-forming and carbothermal reducing agent. The Fe 0.4 Mn 0.6 O x -0.3 xylitol redox catalyst prepared by this method possessed excellent catalytic performance, the ethane conversion rate and the ethylene selectivity reached 54.23% and 92.42%, respectively. It has been demonstrated that the highly active lattice oxygen in Fe 0.4 Mn 0.6 O x catalyst plays a key role in the ethane catalytic conversion. The high concentration of oxygen vacancies weakens metal–oxygen bonds, thereby promoting the migration of bulk-phase lattice oxygen to the redox catalyst surface to replenish the surface lattice oxygen. This work provides insights into the effects of biomass-based oxygenate species and doping levels on the lattice oxygen mobility of Fe 0.4 Mn 0.6 O x redox catalysts during the CL-ODH of ethane.