Selective oxidation of methane to methanol over MoO 3/La 2O 3 catalyst

The catalytic property of MoO 3(1% �� 30%)/La 2O 3 catalysts for the selective oxidation of methane to methanol was studied at atmospheric pressure. It was found that there is an optimum content of MoO 3 added, i.e., the yield of methanol reaches 2.67% when the content of MoO 3 is 2.5 % . It was also found that the activity and selectivity of catalyst vary with the change of reaction temperature. The effect of other reaction conditions, for example, space velocity, CH 4/O 2 molar ratio, on the selective oxidation of methane to methanol was investigated over 2.5 % MoO 3/La 2O 3 catalyst. The maximum space time yield of methanol was obtained at 500��C, that is about 0.229 g/(g��h) . The relationship between the specific surface area and the activity and selectivity of MoO 3La 2O 3 catalysts was also studied.