ABSTRACT
The transformation of methane, the major component of natural gas, to more valuable products has been a challenging task because methane is extremely difficult to activate. In the methanemolecule, consisting of a single C-atom surrounded by four H-atoms (CH4), the sp3 hybridization of the atomic orbitals of carbon makes the carbon-hydrogen bonds very strong. A barrier to converting CH4 into useful chemicals is that the products are less thermodynamically stable than the
“DK3029_C014” — #2
CH4 reactant and hence are further converted to undesired products, namely carbon oxides. There are a number of potential routes to oxygenates such as methanol (CH3OH) and formaldehyde (HCHO) and all have been studied with a view to find ways to simplify the conventional technology to produce the chemicals.
