A way to use water to convert methane into methanol

• Scientists have developed a one-step process that uses water to convert methane to methanol.
• This new way to turn methane into methanol using only water could help to significantly cut carbon emissions by ending gas flaring at oil fields and create a useful chemical feedstock at the same time.
• Water is used to oxidize methane over a bed of copper containing zeolite—the unique structure of the mineral lets the water behave as an oxidant.
• This process is 97 percent efficient, emitting only methanol and hydrogen.
• This method is simple and easy enough that it could be used at drilling sites and the resulting methanol could be used as a liquid fuel or as an ingredient in making resins or plastics. The hydrogen could be used in any number of ways, including in fuel cells.

About Methanol:

• Methanol is a valuable source of industrial chemicals and over 30 million tonnes are consumed every year.
• The direct oxidation of methane to methanol would therefore be a highly attractive industrial process. However, commercial methanol production currently requires the endothermic conversion of methane to synthesis gas – a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen – which is then converted to methanol.
• This is only feasible in huge facilities, so remote oil-extraction facilities often simply burn any methane produced.
• Mechanisms for direct oxidation of methane have required expensive, strong oxidants and been plagued by over-oxidation of the methanol, producing, for example, carbon monoxide and formates.
• Methane has been identified as a greenhouse gas, one that is perhaps more of a problem even than carbon dioxide because it traps more heat (some studies have suggested 25 times as much).
• It makes its way into the atmosphere due to animal flatulence and some industrial processes. It is also a by-product at gas wells, where it is generally burned.
• Methanol, on the other hand, has been considered a good alternative to gasoline for use in automobile engines. It is currently made using a variety of techniques and basic materials including coal, natural gas and even municipal waste. One approach is to use high-pressure and high-temperature oxidation of the gas, but most consider such methods too technically challenging to use in places such as drilling sites. In this new effort, the researchers describe a simpler way to make methanol using water (as an oxidant instead of oxygen) and methane.

By: Vishal