Summary
Ethylene oxide is an important industrial chemical that is produced by the selective oxidation of ethylene with either air or pure oxygen gas. Ethylene oxide is most useful as a raw material for ethylene glycol, which is widely used in heat transfer fluids and synthetic fibers. The oxidation of ethylene is performed over supported silver catalyst, which is the preferred catalyst due to its effectiveness at adsorbing oxygen. The ability of silver to adsorb oxygen in a variety of ways has led researches to propose two mechanisms for the production of ethylene oxide, one mechanism in which silver adsorbs oxygen molecularly and one in which silver adsorbs oxygen dissociatively.