SBA-15 Supported Iron Phosphate Catalyst for Partial Oxidation of Methane to Formaldehyde

摘要

Partial oxidation of CH_4 to useful oxygenates such as CH_3OH and HCHO remains as a great challenge in the new century. Although a large number of catalysts have been reported, the current situation is far from commercial consideration. One of the present authors has found that an iron phosphate (FePO_4) catalyst shows high selectivity to useful oxygenates during the partial oxidation of CH_4 or C_2H_6. Recently, it is reported that the supporting of FePO4 onto silica enhances the conversion of CH_4 to HCHO. Since mesoporous molecular sieves possess well-ordered mesoporous channels and large surface areas, the active component may thus be tailored in their nano-order spaces. SBA-15, a typical mesoporous molecular sieve with thick wall may be used as a promising catalyst support particularly for reactions at relatively high temperatures. In the present study, the structural and catalytic properties of the FePO_4 supported on SBA-15 for partial oxidation of CH_4 with O_2 are investigated and compared with those of the unsupported FePO_4.