Equation 2 is the partial oxidation and has a heat of reaction of -519 kJ/mol, and Equation
3 is the complete oxidation which is even more favorable with a heat of reaction of -801 kJ.mol.
Both of these reactions produce combustion elements instead of the desired C2 products. In order
to operate the reactor section in a way that the C2 yields are acceptable, the balance of the
reactions above must be kept. This is the motivation behind the selection of the catalyst, LiMgO,
which will be explained in the reactor component of Section 6.