(64a) Oxidative Coupling Methane Enhanced By Distribution of Oxygen through Porous Medium

Recently, technologies for converting methane into more valuable chemicals are fast emerging due to a large amount of global natural gas reserve along with rapid depletion of fossil fuel. Among the technologies, Oxidative Coupling of Methane (OCM) is attractive since it produces valuable ethylene, a precursor to many industrially important chemicals. One of the major problems in OCM is the decrease of C₂₊ selectivity with methane conversion because CH₄ and O₂ are thermodynamically favored to proceed to full oxidative conversion to form CO or CO₂. In addition, the temperature rises by the exothermic reaction further result in the high driving force to full oxidation. In this context, it is important to develop new processes to minimize deep oxidation of CH₄ while improving thermal management. To confirm the performance of OCM in a membrane reactor, in the present work, a process where methane flows over the catalyst while oxygen is distributed over the catalyst bed through a porous filter was investigated. It was found that both C₂₊ selectivity and yield were improved by distributing oxygen through the filter, as compared to those for a packed bed reactor. Finally, operating conditions including temperature, feed ratio, and flow rate were optimized to maximize C₂₊ yield.