Low temperature selective methane oxidation in confined spaces

以分子氧为氧化剂的多相催化剂氧化是碳氢化合物工业利用的重要一步。在氧化化学领域仍有许多巨大的挑战吸引着科学家，但他们的解决方案似乎总是遥不可及。其中一个特别的是甲烷选择性氧化制甲醇，这将在本提案中讨论。目前，大多数氧化过程需要活性烃分子（如烯烃）才能有效。然而，甲烷储量丰富，确定一种直接选择性氧化甲烷的催化剂将给工业带来革命性的变化。不幸的是，通过合成气间接利用是目前唯一可行的商业可能性。本研究的目的是利用一种新的低温方法，在沸石材料的微孔内诱导活化，研究甲烷直接氧化成甲醇。然后可以使用众所周知的甲醇制烯烃工艺将甲醇用作乙烯和丙烯生成的前体。

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.