The direct partial oxidation of methane to organic oxygenates using a dielectric barrier discharge reactor as a catalytic reactor analog

The present work discusses the direct oxidative conversion of methane to organic oxygenates (methanol, formaldehyde, methyl formate, and formic acid) using a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor. The DBD reactor can be considered an analog to a catalytic reactor because, just as with the catalytic reactor, the DBD reactor reduces the required temperature and pressure needed for reactions to occur within it as well as control product selectivity. In this study, the effects of changing the electrical properties within a methane-oxygen DBD system were investigated. Increasing the gas gap from 4.0 to 12.0 nun caused the reduced electric field to decrease from 30 to 18 V/cm/Torr, which resulted in a shift in the product distribution from organic oxygenate liquids to ethane and acetylene. The effects of temperature on product selectivity were also studied through the use of a water jacket. Lowering the temperature of water within the water jacket from 75 to 28 degreesC resulted in a 54% increase in organic oxygenate selectivity and a 56% decrease in COx selectivity. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.