Methanol is currently produced by breaking down natural gas at high temperatures into hydrogen gas and carbon monoxide before reassembling them – expensive and energy-intensive processes known as ‘steam reforming’ and ‘methanol synthesis.’
But researchers at Cardiff Catalysis Institute have discovered they can produce methanol from methane through simple catalysis that allows methanol production at low temperatures using oxygen and hydrogen peroxide.
Cleaner, greener industrial processes
The breakthrough, published in the journal Science, has major implications for cleaner, greener industrial processes worldwide.
Professor Graham Hutchings, director of Cardiff Catalysis Institute, said: “The quest to find a more efficient way of producing methanol is a hundred years old. Our process uses oxygen – effectively a ‘free’ product in the air around us – and combines it with hydrogen peroxide at mild temperatures which require less energy.
Read More: Scientists make methanol using oxygen
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