Reaction control and long-term stability of partial methane oxidation over an oxygen membrane.

In this paper, peculiarities are discussed of the temperature control of the methane partial oxidation (POM) in the laboratory reactor with oxygen separating the tubular membrane of lanthanum-strontium ferrite. It is shown that reactions at the catalyst may result in the local decrease of the temperature. Therefore, correct monitoring of the heat regime of the process is possible only when direct contact is avoided of the catalyst with controlling thermocouple. The long-term testing showed stable performance characteristics of the entire POM system during more than 7000 h with the methane conversion level and selectivity of no less than 98.8% and 90%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]