Direct oxidation of methane to methanol using CuMoO₄

Area of Science:

• Catalysis
• Materials Science
• Green Chemistry

Background:

• Methane upgrading to methanol is crucial for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and producing industrial feedstocks.
• Current research predominantly focuses on zeolite systems, with limited success in extending efficient methane-to-methanol conversion to metal oxide supports.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and evaluate a novel Cu/MoO3 catalyst for the gaseous phase conversion of methane to methanol.
• To investigate the structural and active site properties of the synthesized catalyst.

Main Methods:

• Impregnation method for catalyst synthesis.
• Gas-phase reaction studies at 600 °C with a specific CH4:O2:H2O molar ratio.
• Characterization using SEM, TEM, HRTEM, XRD, transmission infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and XPS.

Main Results:

• The synthesized Cu(2)/MoO3 catalyst achieved a maximum space-time yield (STYCH) of 47.2 μmol (g-1 h-1) for methane to methanol conversion.
• Characterization confirmed the incorporation of copper into the MoO3 lattice, forming CuMoO4.
• CuMoO4 was identified as the primary active site responsible for the catalytic activity.

Conclusions:

• The study presents a novel Cu/MoO3 catalyst system for efficient methane-to-methanol conversion.
• The formation of CuMoO4 is key to the catalytic performance, establishing a new support platform for copper-based catalysts in this reaction.