Methane, which is the main component of natural gas, is known as a clean energy source because the amount of carbon dioxide generated when it is burned is about half that of petroleum.Furthermore, in recent years, it has become possible to mine shale gas, which is a non-conventional natural gas, and attention is being paid to its use as a resource for methane.

　To make liquid fuels and chemicals from methane, it must first be converted to hydrogen and carbon monoxide.However, for this conversion, in the current industrial process, it is generally necessary to react with water vapor at a high temperature of 900 ° C. or higher, and it has been desired to develop an efficient reaction at a lower temperature.

　In this study, we succeeded in converting methane at 650 ° C by using a method of reacting oxygen in the air with methane instead of water vapor and using a newly developed catalyst.In this new catalyst, nanoparticles of cobalt, which is the main active ingredient, are placed on crystalline oxides of silicon and aluminum with fine holes called zeolite, and trace amounts of rhodium are placed on the surface of the cobalt particles at the single atom level. Distributed.Cobalt is relatively abundant and inexpensive, but has the disadvantage of being easily oxidized, so a very small amount of rhodium, a precious metal, was applied to the surface of cobalt to solve this problem.As a result, a catalyst in which rhodium keeps cobalt in an active metallic state and exhibits stable and high activity has been realized.

　In the future, based on this catalyst design, it is expected that process development for more efficient use of methane and progress in the use of natural gas will be expected.

Paper information:[Communications Chemistry] Trace mono-atomically dispersed rhodium on constituting-supported cobalt catalyst for the efficient methane oxidation