Physical Methods for Studying Chemical Reactions: New Non-Catalytic Methods for Processing Hydrocarbon Gases.

The theory of branched-chain processes, created by the founder of the Russian school of chemical physics, Nikolai Nikolaevich Semenov, has become the foundation of modern ideas about the mechanism of gas-phase hydrocarbon conversion processes and the base for a deep understanding of the phenomena occurring in many related fields. However, throughout the 20th century, the chemical processing of hydrocarbon gases remained a secondary area of petroleum chemistry, since liquid petroleum hydrocarbons were the main hydrocarbon feedstock. A radical change in the situation after the start of industrial development of huge unconventional natural gas resources made it necessary to create cost-effective technologies for processing cheaper and more accessible gaseous hydrocarbons into basic petrochemical products. This article discusses new non-catalytic methods for processing hydrocarbon gases, developed at the Institute of Problems of Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences (IPCP RAS) and the Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, and promising areas of their application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]