2021 Annual Meeting

(555b) Improving Hydrocarbon Yield Via Co-Feeding in Methane Coupling Reaction on Iron/Quartz Catalyst

Authors

Emily Schulman - Presenter, University of Maryland
Dongxia Liu, University of Maryland
Dat T. Tran, U.S. Army Research Laboratory
Su Cheun Oh, University of Maryland
Zixiao Liu, University of Maryland
Limei Qiu, Research Institute of Petroleum Processing, SINOPEC
Guangtong Xu, Research Institute of Petroleum Processing, SINOPEC
Yuxia Diao, Research Institute of Petroleum Processing, SINOPEC
Asher Leff, CCDC Army Research Laboratory, FCDD-RLS-CC
Direct non-oxidative methane conversion (DNMC) over iron/silica (Fe/SiO2) catalysts is a promising solution for developing fuels and chemicals from methane. The endothermic DNMC reaction requires high energy input to reach temperatures required for desirable methane conversion. Co-feeding oxygen (O2) over quartz-supported Fe-species (Fe/SiO2(Q), “Q” denotes quartz) catalysts resulted in greater than 100% increase methane conversion and 50% increase in product yield while supplying heat for DNMC from energy released during CO and CO2 formation. Fe/SiO2(Q) was prepared via flame-fusion, maintaining the quartz SiO2 crystalline phase, unlike melt-fusing methods resulting in a phase transformation to cristobalite. In DNMC, the catalyst had only a brief induction period and good stability. At low concentrations, the O2 co-feed increased methane conversion and hydrocarbon yield, suggesting that oxidative coupling of methane promotes C2 and aromatics formation. Analyses of spent Fe/SiO2(Q) catalysts indicated that the O2 co-feed alters the coking species that actively participate in DNMC.