High Quality Industrial Grade Hydrocarbon Gases C2h6/Methane/Ethylene/Ethane in available stock

C hemical formula

C ₂ H ₆

M olecular weight

30.07

Density

1.356 kg/m³（ 101.325 kpa, 0°C ）

Melting Point

-183 ℃（ 101.325 kpa ）

Boiling Point

-88.6 ℃（ 101.325 kpa ）

F lashing point

-135 ℃

The chief use of ethane is the production of ethene (ethylene) by steam cracking.

When diluted with steam and briefly heated to very high temperatures (900 °C or more), heavy hydrocarbons break down into lighter hydrocarbons, and saturated hydrocarbons become unsaturated. Ethane is favored for ethene production because the steam cracking of ethane is fairly selective for ethene, while the steam cracking of heavier hydrocarbons yields a product mixture poorer in ethene and richer in heavier alkenes (olefins), such as propene (propylene) and butadiene, and in aromatic hydrocarbons.

Experimentally, ethane is under investigation as a feedstock for other commodity chemicals.

Oxidative chlorination of ethane has long appeared to be a potentially more economical route to vinyl chloride than ethene chlorination. Many processes for producing this reaction have been patented, but poor selectivity for vinyl chloride and corrosive reaction conditions (specifically, a reaction mixture containing hydrochloric acid at temperatures greater than 500 °C) have discouraged the commercialization of most of them. Presently, INEOS operates a 1000 t/a (tonnes per annum) ethane-to-vinyl chloride pilot plant at Wilhelmshaven in Germany.

Similarly, the Saudi Arabian firm SABIC has announced construction of a 30,000 tonnes per annum plant to produce acetic acid by ethane oxidation at Yanbu.

The economic viability of this process may rely on the low cost of ethane near Saudi oil fields, and it may not be competitive with methanol carbonylation elsewhere in the world.

Ethane can be used as a refrigerant in cryogenic refrigeration systems.

On a much smaller scale, in scientific research, liquid ethane is used to vitrify water-rich samples for electron microscopy (cryo-electron microscopy). A thin film of water, quickly immersed in liquid ethane at −150 °C or colder, freezes too quickly for water to crystallize. With slower freezing methods, ice crystals can disrupt soft structures, damaging the samples.