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Highly selective catalyst enables 'one-step' conversion of methane to methanol

Phys Org
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91% Informative

Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory and collaborating institutions have engineered a highly selective catalyst that can convert methane, a major component of natural gas, into methanol.

The process for methane-to-methanol conversion runs at a temperature lower than required to make tea.

The simplicity of the system could make it particularly useful for tapping "stranded" natural gas reserves in isolated rural areas.

Chemists built new pressurized three -phase reactors to monitor reaction in real time.

They used infrared spectroscopy to measure reaction rates and identify chemical species that arose on catalyst surface.

NSLS-II's Dominik Wierzbicki , a study co-author, worked to design the ISS reactor so the team could study the high-pressure, gas-solid-liquid reaction using X-ray.