Chemists have been searching for efficient catalysts to convert methane into methanol. Adding water to the reaction can address certain challenges, but it also complicates the process. Now a team has identified a new approach using a common industrial catalyst that can complete the conversion effectively both with and without water. The findings suggest strategies for improving catalysts for the water-free conversion.

«Water is like a trick that people have been using for a long time to get this reaction going — and it definitely helps. It improves the selectivity and it aids the ability to extract the methanol,» said Jose Rodriguez, a leader of Brookhaven Lab’s Catalysis Group, who has an adjunct appointment at Stony Brook University (SBU) in the departments of Chemistry and Materials Science and Chemical Engineering.

As shown in a recent related study by this group, adding water keeps the reaction from running away to transform the desired product, methanol, into carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO₂). But adding water also adds complexity and cost. Plus, at the temperatures and in the amounts required for this reaction, the water exists as large quantities of steam, which would have to be controlled in an industrial setting.

So, the Brookhaven team set out to explore if they could run the reaction without water by changing the catalyst — the substance that brings the reactants together and helps guide them along a particular reaction pathway.

Catalytic conversion

The new paper describes how a common copper-zinc oxide catalyst can steer the reaction along different pathways depending on whether water is present.

Story Source: Materials provided by DOE/Brookhaven National Laboratory. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.