The goal of this research is to develop catalysts that directly convert methane and light hydrocarbons to intermediates that can, as economics dictate, be subsequently converted either to liquid fuels or value-added chemicals. In this program we are exploring two approaches to developing such catalysts. The first approach consists of developing advanced catalysts for reforming methane. We will prepare the catalysts by reacting organometallic complexes of transition metals (Fe, Ru, Rh, and Re) with zeolitic and rare-earth-exchanged zeolitic supports to produce surface-confined metal complexes in the zeolite pores. Our second approach entails synthesizing the porphyrin and phthalocyanine complexes of Cr, Mn, Ru, Fe, and/or Co within the pores of zeolitic supports for use as selective oxidation catalysts for methane and light hydrocarbons. During this reporting period, we concentrated on synthesizing and testing methane oxidation catalysts using the automated GC sampling system. We modified our preparation method of zeolite-encapsulated phthalocyanines (PC). The catalysts have higher complex loading, and the uncomplexed metal ions were back-exchanged by sodium ions (to remove any uncomplexed metal ions). Four metal ions were used: cobalt, iron, ruthenium, and manganese. We also synthesized four zeolite-encapsulated tetraphenylporphyrin (TPP) complexes using the same metals. These catalysts were tested for methane …

The goal of this research is to develop catalysts that directly convert methane and light hydrocarbons to intermediates that later can be converted to either liquid fuels or value-added chemicals, as economics dictate. During this reporting period, we synthesized several phthalocyanine catalysts supported on magnesia (MgO) in Task 3. In Task 4 we have tested these catalysts for oxidation of methane and did a number of blank experiments to determine the cause of the low methanol yield we have observed. Magnesia supported catalysts were prepared by first synthesizing the various metal tetrasulfophthalocyanines (TSPCs), converting them to the acid form, and then supporting these complexes on a basic support (MgO) by a neutralization reaction. The metals used were Ru, Pd, Cu, Fe, Co, Mn, and Mo. CoTSPC was also synthesized in zeolite Y using our standard template techniques described in Quarterly Report No. 1. These complexes were examined for catalytic activity in the oxidation of methane. The PdTSPC/MgO had greater activity, and oxidized some of the methane (selectivity of 2.8% from the methane oxidized at 375{degrees}C) to ethane. This is a much lower temperature for this reaction than previously reported in the literature. We also examined the reactivity of various components …