Issue 8, 2014

Renewable energy based catalytic CH4 conversion to fuels

Abstract

Natural gas is envisioned as a primary source of hydrocarbons in the foreseeable future. With the abundance of shale gas, the main concerns have shifted from the limited hydrocarbon availability to the sustainable methods of CH4 conversion to fuels. This is necessitated by high costs of natural gas transportation in its native gaseous form. Conventional gas-to-liquid conversion technologies are capital and scale intensive and can hardly be envisioned in their current form to be cost efficient in the remote locations of the natural gas extraction sites. Solar energy can be utilized at the gas extraction site to perform catalytic CH4 conversion using electrons obtained via photovoltaics or directly with photons. We provide broader insight into the catalytic CH4 conversion methods that utilize renewable energy via photo(electro)catalytic processes, with particular focus on the catalytic materials used, reaction conditions and intermediates, as well as their selectivity. Based on the currently available scientific literature, we propose several hybrid catalytic CH4 conversion processes based on both conventional and renewable – photo(electro)chemical – catalysis.

Graphical abstract: Renewable energy based catalytic CH4 conversion to fuels

Article information

Article type
Perspective
Submitted
07 Mar 2014
Accepted
04 Apr 2014
First published
07 Apr 2014

Catal. Sci. Technol., 2014,4, 2397-2411

Renewable energy based catalytic CH4 conversion to fuels

J. Baltrusaitis, I. Jansen and J. D. Schuttlefield Christus, Catal. Sci. Technol., 2014, 4, 2397 DOI: 10.1039/C4CY00294F

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements