Use Of Natural Gas Become a Petrochemical with Zeolite Catalyst

Abstract

Methane is a hydrocarbon compound that can be used for various purposes. Currently, methane is widely used as fuel, and continues to be developed as a synthetic gas material and petrochemical products that have added value, one of which is formaldehyde. This study aimed to study the partial catalytic oxidation reaction of methane to formaldehyde using MoO3/zeolite as a catalyst. Reactant gas stream consisting of pure O2 and CH 4 were contacted with a rate ratio of 1:20, put into Fixed Bed Reactor therein contained 30 grams of catalyst MoO3/zeolite, and the pressure was maintained at 1 atm. The temperature and flow rate of the incoming reactant gas were used as variables. The main product produced was formaldehyde, besides that there were also CH3 OH, CO, CO2, H2O. The results were analyzed using Gas Chromatography, so it was known that the converted methane was 5.18% and the volume fraction of formaldehyde formed was 1.46%.

Keywords

• natural gas
• zeolite catalyst
• methane