Catalytic selective oxidation or oxidative functionalization of methane and ethane to organic oxygenates

Abstract

Selective oxidation or oxidative functionalization of methane and ethane by both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis is presented concerning: (1) selective oxidation of methane and ethane to organic oxygenates by hydrogen peroxide in a water medium in the presence of homogeneous osmium catalysts, (2) selective oxidation of methane to formaldehyde over highly dispersed iron and copper heterogeneous catalysts, (3) selective oxidation of ethane to acetaldehyde and formaldehyde over supported molybdenum catalysts, and (4) oxidative carbonylation of methane to methyl acetate over heterogeneous catalysts containing dual sites of rhodium and iron.National Natural Science Foundation of China [20433030, 20625310, 20773099, 20873110]; National Basic Program of China [2005CB221408, 2010CB732303]; Key Scientific Project of Fujian [2009HZ0002-1]; Program for New Century Excellent Talents in Fujia

Selective electrocatalytic conversion of methane to fuels and chemicals

“…To meet this target, the key is to develop a highly efficient catalyst capable of generating reactive oxygen species that can activate CH 4 to CH 3 OH with a low over-potential and a high current at the same time. The insights into the active sites or active phases obtained from the selective oxidation or oxidative coupling of CH 4 under thermocatalytic conditions [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] are helpful in developing more efficient catalysts or co-catalysts for the electrocatalytic conversion of CH 4 . Electrocatalysis will bring new possibilities for methane chemistry.…”

“…Presently, more than 90% of the natural gas exploited is used for heating, cooking, transportation purposes and electricity generation. Despite its vast availability, the use of methane as chemical raw material is still insufficient [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] .…”

“…The inherent chemical properties of methane, including low electron and proton affinity, low polarizability, weak acidity, high C-H bond energy (439 kJ mol −1 ) as well as high ionization energy [4] , make it very inert. The chemical utilization of methane is thus highly challenging [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] . In the current chemical industry, methane is first converted to syngas (CO/H 2 ) by steam reforming or partial oxidation, and syngas is transformed into methanol or liquid hydrocarbons via methanol synthesis or Fischer-Tropsch synthesis [10] .…”

“…The direct transformation of methane into chemicals and liquid fuels is more cost-and energy efficient. Numerous studies have been devoted to this filed for decades [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] . The transformation of methane into methyl halides has recently seen significant progress and methyl halides can be applied to the synthesis of lower olefins or hydrocarbon fuels [12,13] .…”

Sol–gel preparation of NiO/ZrO2(x)–MgO(100−x) nanocatalyst used in CO2/O2 oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene: influence of Mg/Zr ratio on catalytic performance

“…However, olefins are more active compared to the primary feed molecules entering the reaction environment, so this new technology is not completely accepted. In other words, secondary reactions which lead to undesired products such as COx compounds are inevitable [10]. Accordingly, the oxidant type in the oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) can have significant impact on the performance of catalyst.…”