Quasicatalytic and catalytic selective oxidation of methane to methanol over solid materials: a review on the roles of water.

To date, although no commercial process for the selective oxidation of methane has been realized, various novel processes with effective solid materials operated at low temperature have been proposed. It is found that the addition of water in any processes not only influences the activity, selectivity, and stability of the solid materials but also affects the extraction efficiency of methanol from the product. Herein, the published results on the roles of water in the methanol production via the quasicatalytic and catalytic selective methane oxidation process using various solid materials in gas and liquid phases at low temperatures are critically reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]