Question

How would you obtain ethene from ethanol? Give equation.

Answer 1

The dehydration of alcohol is defined as a reaction in which alcohol reacts with an organic acid to remove water molecules and forms unsaturated alkenes as the major product.

In a chemical reaction, the reactant molecule reacts with a suitable reagent molecule to produce an intermediate which is converted into final products.

The reaction of Ethanol $\left({\mathrm{C}}_2{\mathrm{H}}_5\mathrm{OH}\right)$ with Sulphuric acid $\left({\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{SO}}_4\right)$ at $170°\mathrm{C}$ temperature forms Ethene $\left({\mathrm{C}}_2{\mathrm{H}}_4\right)$ and Water as the major product.

The chemical equation of the reaction of Ethanol with Sulphuric acid at $170°\mathrm{C}$ written as:

$$\begin{gathered} {\mathrm{C}}_2{\mathrm{H}}_5\mathrm{OH}\stackrel{{\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{SO}}_4/170°\mathrm{C}}{\to }{\mathrm{C}}_2{\mathrm{H}}_4+{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O} \\ \left(\mathrm{Ethanol}\right)\left(\mathrm{Ethene}\right)\left(\mathrm{Water}\right) \end{gathered}$$