Co-activation of methane and nitrogen to acetonitrile over MoCx/Al2O3 catalysts

Abstract

Methane and nitrogen are regarded as the most abundant sources of hydrocarbons and nitrogen, respectively. Both compounds exhibit high stability due to the presence of daunting C–H and NN bond energies of 439 and 945 kJ mol⁻¹, respectively, leading to their abundance. This study investigates the co-activation of methane and nitrogen using Al₂O₃-supported MoC_x catalysts (1, 5, and 10 wt%) to produce acetonitrile (ACN) at ambient pressure. It was found that the optimum methane conversion (26.1%) and turnover frequency (TOF) of ACN (15.3 h⁻¹) were achieved at 750 °C using 1 wt% Mo loading. To alleviate catalyst deactivation resulting from coking, H₂ co-feeding was implemented and found to effectively sustain the on-stream activity for 50 hours. A plausible mechanism for ACN production, which occurs on the MoC-like surface, was proposed.