Dw. Larkin et al., Production of organic oxygenates in the partial oxidation of methane in a silent electric discharge reactor, IND ENG RES, 40(7), 2001, pp. 1594-1601
This study on the partial oxidation of methane in a silent electric dischar
ge uses an annular reactor consisting of two metal electrodes separated by
a gas gap and a glass dielectric covering the outer surface of the inner el
ectrode. The reactor operates at 7000 V and 26-178 W of AC power. The frequ
ency ranges from 100 to 200 Hz. The organic liquid oxygenates formed from t
he partial oxidation of methane are principally methanol, formaldehyde, met
hyl formate, and formic acid. This study showed that, when the oxygen parti
al pressure became limited in the reaction zone, the energy efficiency of t
he system significantly decreased. It was also shown that, with a recycle,
as opposed to without, the selectivity for organic liquids was enhanced by
12%, whereas the COx selectivity decreased by 19% because the recycle had a
short per-pass residence time with removal of organic liquid oxygenate pro
ducts via a condenser. Finally, experimental simulations of reactors in ser
ies with intermediate oxygen additions obtained an overall methane conversi
on of 59%, with 35% yield in organic liquid oxygenates.