Catalytic Oxygen Carriers and Process Systems for Oxidative Coupling of Methane Using the Chemical Looping Technology

Directly upgrading natural gas is limited by the stability of its primary component, methane, and process economics. Since the 1980s, oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) has shown potential to produce ethylene and ethane (C(2)s). The typical OCM approach catalytically converts methane to C-2 products using molecular oxygen, reducing process efficiency. To overcome this, chemical looping OCM converts methane to hydrocarbons via intermediate oxygen carriers rather than gaseous cofed oxidants. The chemical looping approach for OCM has been studied mechanistically for the first time with a Mn-Mg-based catalytic oxygen carrier (COC). The COC delivered stable performance in a fixed bed for 100 cycles for more than 50 h with a 63.2% C-2 selectivity and 23.2% yield. These experimental results and original process simulations of an OCM chemical looping system for C-2 or liquid fuel production with electricity cogeneration present a direct method for methane utilization.