The growth of natural gas supplies, as well as ever-present environmental concerns, have led to efforts to develop catalytic technologies compatible with a more diverse portfolio of feedstocks for chemical production. The concept of distributed chemical manufacturing, which describes networks of production facilities operating at reduced scale and nearby to resources and end-use applications, is closely related – unconventional feedstock resources are often stranded, and production opportunities for renewable energy, proposed to drive the relevant chemical transformations, are not uniformly geographically distributed. In order to promote greater synthesis distribution, it is essential to explore the behavior of liquid-phase catalytic systems in mild conditions.
This presentation will describe efforts toward understanding the oxidative conversion of light alkanes in mild, aqueous conditions to oxygenates, including alcohols, aldehydes, and acids. Quantitative catalysis results will be presented for low temperature and pressure liquid-phase transformations of ethane and methane, with and without the application of electric potential. The accompanying Figure provides (left) quantification of products associated with the room-temperature and atmospheric-pressure partial oxidation of ethane in water with dispersed AuPd nanoparticle catalysts. These data are representative of one area that will be discussed – product distributions and conversions with increasing reaction times in batch conditions. The Figure also shows (right) representative results from our recent investigation into the anodic electrochemistry of the interaction of methane with platinum, which is a starting point for further studies into methane upgrading through electrochemistry.

<b>Figure 1.</b> (Left) Ethane partial oxidation by AuPd in mild conditions: oxygenate production rates quantified by NMR, GC, and titration experiments for representative batch reaction. (Right) Time-dependent operando SEIRAS results with potential held at 0.3 V vs RHE for 1 h in CH<sub>4</sub>-saturated 0.1 M HClO<sub>4</sub>. .

Figure 1. (Left) Ethane partial oxidation by AuPd in mild conditions: oxygenate production rates quantified by NMR, GC, and titration experiments for representative batch reaction. (Right) Time-dependent operando SEIRAS results with potential held at 0.3 V vs RHE for 1 h in CH₄-saturated 0.1 M HClO₄. .

Sadi Gurses

Graduate Student, University of California, Davis

Appearances