Development of vanadium-phosphate catalysts for methanol production by selective oxidation of methane. Quarterly technical progress report 10, July 1, 1995--September 31, 1995

This document is the tenth quarterly technical progress report under Contract No. DE-AC22-92PC92110 {open_quotes}Development of Vanadium-Phosphate Catalysts for Methanol Production by Selective Oxidation of Methane{close_quotes}. Activities focused on testing of additional modified and promoted catalysts and characterization of these materials. Attempts at improving the sensitivity of our GC based analytical systems were also made with some success. Methanol oxidation studies were initiated. These results are reported. Specific accomplishments include: (1) Methane oxidation testing of a suite of catalysts promoted with most of the first row transition metals was completed. Several of these materials produced low, difficult to quantify yields of formaldehyde. (2) Characterization of these materials by XRD and FTIR was performed with the goal of correlating activity and selectivity with catalyst properties. (3) We began to characterize catalysts prepared via modified synthesis methods designed to enhance acidity using TGA measurements of acetonitrile chemisorption and methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether as a test reaction. (4) A catalyst prepared in the presence of naphthalene methanol as a structural disrupter was tested for activity in methane oxidation. It was found that this material produced low yields of formaldehyde which were difficult to quantify. (5) Preparation of catalysts with no Bronsted acid sites. This was accomplished by replacement of exchangeable protons with potassium, and (6) Methanol oxidation studies were initiated to provide an indication of catalyst activity for decomposition of this desired product and as a method of characterizing the catalyst surface