Advances in studies on the oxidative coupling of methane

The oxidative coupling of methane to produce ethane and ethylene is a new process developed in recent years. Special attention was paid to this reaction in the past few years both at home and abroad because of its great importance not only in the chemical utilization of natural gas (not as a kind of fuel), but also in the scientific studies on the activation of light alkanes. In this paper, recent advances of various kinds of catalysts for this reaction are reviewed and discussed.