Selective oxidative conversion of methane to methanol, dimethyl ether and derived products
AssigneeUniversity of Southern California
InventorsGeorge A. Olah, G. K. Surya Prakash
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a method of producing methanol from a methane source by oxidizing methane under conditions sufficient to a mixture of methanol and formaldehyde while minimizing the formation of formic acid and carbon dioxide. The oxidation step is followed by treatment step in which formaldehyde is converted into methanol and formic acid which itself can further be converted into methanol via catalytic hydrogenation of intermediately formed methyl formate.
Claims24
A method of preparing methanol from a methane source without first producing syn-gas which comprises oxidizing methane under conditions sufficient to produce a mixture of methanol and formaldehyde with smaller amounts of formic acid and carbon dioxide;
- converting the formaldehyde under conditions sufficient to form methanol and formic acid or methyl formate;
- and subsequently hydrogenatively converting the methyl formate under conditions sufficient to form methanol.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.