Low temperature selective methane oxidation in confined spaces

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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 be utilized as a precursor for ethene and propene formation using well known Methanol-to-Olefins processes.