Low-temperature conversion of hydrocarbons over oxide catalysts in the presence of hydrogen peroxide

This paper shows the direct oxidation of methane and propane over silicon dioxide and aluminum oxide surfaces in the presence of small amounts of added hydrogen peroxide (0.09-0.51 kPa) under flow conditions at ca 88 kPa. H/sub 2/O/sub 2/ decomposition over these oxide surfaces goes by a radical mechanism. It was confirmed by special experiments that under the authors' conditions neither the aluminum foil nor the reactor glass had any appreciable effect on the process. The series of experiments shows that under conditions of a steadystate stream of C/sub 3/H/sub 8/-H/sub 2/O/sub 2/ mixture, hydrocarbon conversion takes place mainly on the inner surface of the catalyst. When penetration of reagents through the tablet is achieved (by treatment of the SiO/sub 2/ surface with peroxide at room temperature) the conversion rate is higher. The results show that heterogeneous radical decomposition of hydrogen peroxide can be used to carry out a variety of heterogeneous chemical reactions at extremely mild temperatures.