The new challenge of partial oxidation of methane over Fe(2)O(3)/NaY and Fe(3)O(4)/NaY heterogeneous catalysts

As one of the most important gases that abundantly contribute to air pollution, methane becomes the most leading gas that challenges researchers to utilize it in more functional products such as methanol. In this study, the conversion process involved iron oxide species supported by sodium Y (NaY-Z) zeolite as the catalysts. This work highlighted the preparation of Fe(2)O(3) and Fe(3)O(4) modified NaY zeolite to investigate their catalytic performance on partial oxidation of methane to methanol, with trace amount of oxygen (0.5% in N(2)), in a batch reactor. The as-prepared catalysts were characterized using FTIR, XRD, SEM, and BET. The structure of NaY zeolite and its modified catalysts were confirmed. The pristine NaY-Z shows the highest activity followed by Fe(2)O(3)/NaY-3.52 (3.52 wt% of Fe loading) with high selectivity to formaldehyde (80%). Very high selectivity (∼100%) towards methanol was observed in the reactions on Fe(2)O(3)/NaY-1.70 and Fe(3)O(4)/NaY-2.55 catalysts, although the total amount of product was decreased. It was noticeable that Fe(3)O(4)/NaY-3.22 is an active catalyst and has good selectivity to methanol (70%).