Cracking is the process by which longer chain alkanes can be decomposed into smaller chain alkanes and alkenes in order to align relative production with relative demand. In catalytic cracking, aluminosilicate zeolite catalysts are used in order to decompose hydrocarbon chains at 500oC in the absence of oxygen. In thermal cracking, temperatures of 700-1000oC are used to decompose the chains as they pass through heated metal at 7,000 kPa pressure.
Sorry, I know this isn't enough for four, but I answered this properly before and I'm lazy.
Assess the potential of Ethene as a raw material in industry (five marks)
Another one of these "broad" questions, hate them as it is hard to guess the marking criteria for them.
Ethene is an alkene mainly obtain from the cracking of petrochemicals in which it can undergo different chemical reactions to create products for different applications.
Ethene can undergo radical polymerisation in order to form Low density polyethylene or high density polyethylene depend on the conditions of the the reaction (high pressure and temperature resulting in low density polyethylene due to the backbiting of chains which result in branched chains being formed, having a lower density due to the shape of the chains which decreases the packing of chains, hence used for applications such as cling wrap and plastic bags. Low pressure and temperature can result in linear chains producing a crystalline polymer with higher tension strength and boiling points, allowing it to be used for applications such as bottlecaps and containers). By reacting ethene with other chemicals such as halogens e.g. chlorine, polymers with different properties can be made, all fitting a number of specific applications.
Ethene can also be hydrate to form ethanol, which due to its polar (hydroxyl group) and non-polar (ethyl group) components, it is often used as an industrial solvent as it can dissolve both polar and no polar substances. Ethanol can also be used in automobiles, where certain blends of ethanol with octane will enable the fuel to retain its high octane rating, however with more "cleaner" products being produced due to complete combustion of the short chain (CO2 and Water).
Ethene is also a renewable raw material, through the anaerobic fermentation of glucose, which produces ethanol. The ethanol produced can be dehydrated with a concentrated acidic catalyst to form ethene. However the production of ethene through fermentation is both expensive and results in overall a higher amount of resources used as the fermentation vats need to be kept in specific conditions and the crops that are used to produce ethene need to be high in carbohydrate (sugarcane), requiring a large amount of fertile soil : sacrificing land for other vital crops and in certain areas such as Australia, the arid conditions prevent an economic yield of ethanol to be produced.
Overall ethene is an excellent raw material as its versatility allows it to react with other chemicals to form a wide arrange of products for different applications, however the current production of ethene is detrimental to the environment as large hydrocarbon chains need to be cracked at high temperatures to form ethene, resulting in thermal and atmospheric pollution by the gasses released.
Shove some equations there yada yada.