Low temperature selective methane oxidation in confined spaces

使用以分子氧为氧化剂的非均相催化剂进行氧化是碳氢化合物工业利用的重要一步。在氧化化学领域仍然存在许多巨大的挑战，这些挑战吸引着科学家，但他们的解决方案似乎总是遥不可及。一个特别的是甲烷选择性氧化为甲醇，这将在本提案中解决。目前，大多数氧化过程需要活化的烃分子，如烯烃，才能有效。然而，甲烷是丰富的，并且用于甲烷的直接选择性氧化的催化剂的鉴定将彻底改变工业。不幸的是，通过合成气的间接利用是目前唯一商业上可行的可能性。该提议旨在研究使用新型低温方法的甲烷直接氧化为甲醇，其中在沸石材料的微孔内诱导活化。然后，甲醇可以用作使用公知的甲醇制烯烃工艺形成乙烯和丙烯的前体。

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.