Low temperature selective methane oxidation in confined spaces

Completed

Not Energy Related
Fossil Fuels: Oil Gas and Coal(Oil and Gas, Oil and gas conversion)
Energy Efficiency(Industry)
Renewable Energy Sources(Bio-Energy, Other bio-energy)

Basic and strategic applied research

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Chemistry)

Not Cross-cutting

Professor GJ Hutchings
Chemistry
Cardiff University

Standard

EPSRC

01 April 2008

31 March 2011

36 months

£278,124

Catalysis & surfaces

Wales

NC : Physical Sciences

Professor GJ Hutchings, Chemistry, Cardiff University

Oxidation using heterogeneous catalysts with molecular oxygen as the oxidant represents an important step in the industrial utilisation of hydrocarbons. There remain many grand challenges in the field of oxidation chemistry which tantalise scientists, yet their solution always seems just out of reach. One in particular are the selective oxidation of methane to methanol and this will be addressed in this proposal. At present, most oxidation processes require activated hydrocarbon molecules, such as alkenes, to be effective. However, methane is abundant and the identification of a catalyst for the direct selective oxidation of methane would revolutionalise industry. Unfortunately, indirect utilization via synthesis gas is the only commercially viable possibility at present. This proposal aims to investigate the direct oxidation of methane to methanol using a novel low temperature approach in which the activation is induced within micropores of zeolitic materials. Methanol can then beutilized as a precursor for ethene and propene formation using well known Methanol-to-Olefins processes

07/02/08