Enhancement of methane conversion using electric fields. Quarterly report, January 1--March 31, 1997

The goal of this project is the development of novel, economical, processes for the conversion of natural gas to more valuable projects such as methanol, ethylene and other organic oxygenates or higher hydrocarbons. The methodologies of the project are to investigate and develop low temperature electric discharges and electric field-enhanced catalysis for carrying out these conversions. In the case of low temperature discharges, the conversion is carried out at ambient temperature which in effect trades high temperature thermal energy for electric energy as the driving force for conversion. The low operating temperatures relax the thermodynamic constraints on the product distribution found at high temperature and also removes the requirements of large thermal masses required for current technologies. With the electric field-enhanced conversion, the operating temperatures are expected to be below those currently required for such processes as oxidative coupling, thereby allowing for a higher degree of catalytic selectivity while maintaining high activity