Post-Plasma Catalysis for Methane Partial Oxidation to Methanol: Role of the Copper-Promoted Iron Oxide Catalyst

Methane-air partial oxidation to methanol over a ceramic-supported Fe2O3-CuO catalyst was investigated in a post-plasma catalytic reactor at ambient conditions. The multicomponent catalyst exerted a better catalytic performance than the monocomponent Fe2O3 catalyst. Characterization of the catalysts by XPS showed that incorporation of the CuO additive to a Fe2O3-based catalyst resulted in an increase of lattice oxygen in the surface of the catalyst which facilitated selective methane oxidation. Hydrogen temperature-programmed reduction revealed that addition of the CuO promoter could improve the reduction performance of the catalyst. Moreover, this catalyst showed excellent stability and resistance against carbon deposition in the extended reactions while maintaining catalytic activity. A post-plasma catalytic mechanism is proposed with three main pathways to methanol synthesis.