Low-cost sulfur-tolerant compound could convert wasted natural gas into easily transportable commodity chemicals and fuels
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and their collaborators have demonstrated a promising new approach for converting methane — the primary component of natural gas — into liquid chemicals that are precursors for many industrial chemicals and fuels. The research, described in a paper just published in Advanced Functional Materials, shows how molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), an earth-abundant industrial catalyst, can be used with minimal tweaking to selectively convert methane into methyl peroxide and other liquid oxygenate compounds at temperatures below 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Celsius). Methyl peroxide is a precursor for making methanol, an energy-dense liquid fuel that can be transported easily.
“The fact that this catalyst is an earth-abundant, domestically sourced material could change the game for converting natural gas into liquid chemicals,” said Brookhaven Lab chemist Sanjaya Senanayake, a corresponding author on the publication. “The catalyst achieves very high yields and high specificity for making important precursors for methanol and a wide range of other industrial processes.”
The project is part of a long-term strategy of the Catalysis: Reactivity and Structure group in Brookhaven Lab’s Chemistry Division to develop methane-conversion catalysts and processes. This group includes co-authors Senanayake, chemist Juan Jiménez, and research associate Arephin Islam — all co-authors on the new publication.
Read more on the Brookhaven National Laboratory website
Image: Steven Farrell, Juan Jimenez, and Sanjaya Senanayake stand at the Inner Shell Spectroscopy (ISS) beamline at the National Synchrotron Light Source II. They used X-ray spectroscopy at this beamline to reveal structural and electronic characteristics of molybdenum atoms in a molybdenum disulfide catalyst they developed to convert methane to valuable liquid chemicals.
Credit: David Rahner/Brookhaven National Laboratory