Cyclic operation in the gas-phase oxidation of methane to methanol

A quantitative kinetic model of direct gas-phase oxidation of methane to methanol is used to analyze the basic parameters of a cyclic operation of this process. It is shown that the conversion of methane under optimum conditions may be more than one order of magnitude higher than that in the continuous-flow operation, whereas the selectivity decreases only slightly. In the cyclic operation, the time needed for a steady state to be achieved is rather low and corresponds to about 10 cycles.