Kinetics of the oxidative coupling of methane in the presence of model catalysts

The kinetics of the oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) in the presence of La/MgO and NaWMn/SiO2 catalysts in a flow reactor at low reactant conversions was studied. It was found that, in spite of different compositions and properties of the test catalysts, the formation of ethane from methane and ethylene from ethane can be described within the framework of the Mars-van Krevelen redox model in both cases. The rate laws of side reactions, which lead to the formation of carbon oxides, are different from the rate laws of the target reactions of the conversion of methane into ethane and ethane into ethylene. The kinetic parameters required for the numerical simulation of the OCM process were determined for either of the catalysts.