Question

State how the conversion of Ethyl alcohol to Ethene

Answer 1

Conversion of Ethyl alcohol to Ethene

• Ethyl alcohol is converted into ethene by heating Ethyl alcohol ($C_2{H}_{5}OH$) in the presence of concentrated Sulphuric acid $\left({\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{SO}}_4\right)$.
• The chemical reaction is as follows.

$\underset{(\mathrm{Ethyl}\mathrm{alcohol})}{{\mathrm{C}}_2{\mathrm{H}}_5\mathrm{OH}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}\underset{\mathrm{heat}}{\overset{{\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{SO}}_4}{\to }}\underset{\left(\mathrm{Ethene}\right)}{{\mathrm{C}}_2{\mathrm{H}}_4\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}+\underset{\left(\mathrm{Water}\right)}{{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}$

• This reaction is an example of dehydration reaction.
• Ethene is used to manufacture polyethene.
• It also works well as fuel.