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We proposed to demonstrate the effectiveness of a catalytic membrane reactor (a ceramic membrane combined with a catalyst) to selectively produce methanol by partial oxidation of methane. Methanol is used as a chemical feedstock, gasoline additive, and turbine fuel. Methane partial oxidation using a catalytic membrane reactor has been determined as one of the promising approaches for methanol synthesis from methane. In the original proposal, the membrane was used to selectively remove methanol from the reaction zone before carbon oxides form, thus increasing the methanol yield. Methanol synthesis and separation in one step would also make methane more valuable for producing chemicals and fuels. However, all the membranes tested in this laboratory lost their selectivity under the reaction conditions. A modified non-isothermal, non-permselective membrane reactor then was built and satisfactory results were obtained. The conversion and selectivity data obtained in this laboratory were better than that of the most published studies.

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