THE OXIDATION OF METHANE AT HIGH PRESSURES: IV. EXPERIMENTS USING PURE METHANE AND COPPER, SILVER, ZINC, NICKEL, OR MONEL METAL AS CATALYSTS

Abstract

Mixtures of methane and oxygen with some nitrogen were passed over catalysts of copper, silver, zinc, nickel, and Monel metal and the yields of methanol and other liquid products determined. The conditions of temperature, pressure, and rate of flow that were known to be best for a copper catalyst were used. Nickel and Monel metal appear to offer most promise. A massive form of catalyst appears to be better than a catalyst in the form of fine wire gauze for the maximum yield of liquid products.