Partial oxidation of methane to synthesis gas on a Rh/TiO2 catalyst in a fast flow porous membrane reactor

The partial oxidation of methane to synthesis gas has been studied over a 3% Rh/TiO₂ catalyst in a fixed bed and a novel membrane reactor under autothermal conditions using O₂ as oxidant. The membrane reactor allows the partial oxidation reaction to be performed without premixing the reactants reducing the risk of explosion even at low methane/oxygen ratios. The membrane reactor can operate autothermally and at millisecond residence time. Methane conversions of up to 65% with CO and H₂ selectivities of 90 and 82% respectively have been achieved. The low methane oxygen ratio and the high flow rates are the key factors to attain autothermal behavior. The most sensitive factor to attain high conversion and selectivities appears to be short contact time but high temperature. A kinetic model was used to interpret the experimental results. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.