Section III, 1922 [93] Trans. R.S.C. 



The Partial Oxidation of Methane in Natural Gas* 



R. T. Elworthy, B.Sc, A.I.C. 



Although many suggestions have been put forward and many 

 patents have been taken out for the production of oxidation products 

 of methane from natural gas, the possibilities of partial oxidation 

 have received little attention from the scientific standpoint, judged 

 from the lack of information in the literature. The negative character 

 of so much of the work that is known to have been carried out may 

 account for this. The following paper describes some experiments 

 performed on this subject. 



The Combustion of Methane 



The chief theories of the mechanism of combustion of methane 

 are almost all based on the hypothesis that the ultimate decomposition 

 into carbon dioxide and water is preceded by the formation of complex 

 hydroxylated molecules, which, in the course of the reaction, break 

 down in stages. The fact that the presence of at least a trace of 

 moisture is essential for combustion to take place is thereby explained. 

 E. F. Armstrong,^ one of the chief exponents of this theory, 

 assumes the intermediate formation of such complexes as: 



H0\ /OH K0\ /OH H\ /OH 



C C & C 



HO/ \0H H / \0H H/ \0H 



These on oxidation and decomposition would yield: 

 H\ /OH H\ H\ 



C C = O C = O before finally giving 



H/ \H H/ \0H 



CO2 and H2O. 



He found experimental evidence for his theories in the work of 

 Bone and Wheeler,- who showed formaldehyde to be one of the 

 products of the reaction between methane and oxygen when these 

 gases were circulated over boro-silicate glass at temperatures between 

 450° and 500°C. They proved that formaldehyde was not formed 

 by the combination of carbon monoxide and hydrogen under the 

 conditions employed but that these substances resulted rather from 



*Published by the permission of the Director, Mines Branch, 

 ijour. Chem. Soc. Trans. 83, 1088, 1903. 

 2Jour. Chem. Soc. Trans. 83, 1074, 1903. 



