Development of vanidum-phosphate catalysts for methanol production by selective oxidation of methane. Quarterly technical progress report, 1996

Activities this past quarter, focused on acquisition of kinetic data for oxidation of formaldehyde and methanol on these catalysts. In the next quarter these results will be used to propose a simple reaction network and kinetic model. To date we have completed Task 1: Laboratory Setup and Task 2: Process Variable Study. Activities in the current quarter focused on finalizing these tasks and on Task 3: Promoters and Supports, this task is approximately 50% completed. Task 4: Advanced Catalysts is to be initiated in the next quarter. Specific accomplishments this quarter include: finalizing and calibrating a new reaction product analytical system with markedly improved precision and accuracy relative to older. approaches; development of procedures for accurately feeding formaldehyde to the reactor; examination of formaldehyde and methanol oxidation kinetics over vanadyl pyrophosphate at a range of temperatures; and preliminary studies of methane oxidation over a silica support