(370b) Catalyst Development for Natural Gas Monetization

Recent abundance of natural gas rejuvenated interest in catalytic methods leading to its high value products. Developments in catalyst design and structural details under working conditions for sulfur and carbon containing natural gas components, such as CH₄, CO₂, H₂S and ethane, will be presented. First, we will focus on the molecular structure and properties of Oxidative Coupling of Methane (OCM) catalyst. Emphasis will be on using spectroscopy tools to interrogate the active site of OCM supported tungstate catalyst with the goal of later controllably synthesizing it. Second, both CO₂ and H₂S acid gases are present in significant concentrations in natural “sour” gas streams and need to be separated using energy intensive amine absorption methods. The captured CO₂ is emitted into the atmosphere acting as a major greenhouse gas while H₂S is combusted to yield elemental sulfur and water. A catalytic method of deriving higher hydrocarbons from CO₂ and H₂S under reducing environment will be presented and the fundamental knowledge base of acid gas - CO₂ and H₂S as well as they major reaction byproduct SO₂ - induced K₂O-WO₃/Al₂O₃ catalyst structural changes will be investigated using in situ Raman, IR spectroscopy and TPSR. Finally, solid acid catalyst design and molecular structure details will be presented for ethylene coupling reactions.