Partial oxidation of methane to formaldehyde on MoO3, Fe2O3 and ferromolybdenum catalysts

One of the main challenges for catalysis has been direct methane conversion to useful products such as methanol and formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is currently produced by a three-step industrial process with syngas and methanol as intermediate products. MoO3 Fe2O3, and Fe2(MoO4)3 catalysts were used with four different Mo/Fe molar ratios (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2) in this work. The ferromolybdenum catalyst was prepared by coprecipitation. Pure oxides are more active; however they are not formaldehyde selective, but carbon oxide (CO, CO2) selective. The ferromolybdenum catalysts showed better HCHO selectivity at low conversions; the molybdenum oxide content did not show increased in catalytic activity. Increased reaction temperature did not increase formaldehyde selectivity.