Improved Catalytic Partial Oxidation of Methane via Lattice Oxygen Modification on Supported Copper Oxide Catalyst System

Abstract Thirteen kinds of supported copper oxide catalysts (Cu/MO x , MO x : La 2 O 3 , Al 2 O 3 , SiO 2 , TiO 2 , CeO 2 , ZrO 2 , SnO 2 , SrCO 3 , BaCO 3 , Ta 2 O 5 , Nb 2 O 5 , WO 3 , and MoO 3 ), which form Cu−O−M sites at the interface between CuO x and MO x or within the complex oxides (CuMO x ), were tested for CH 4 partial oxidation to find out catalytically active Cu−O−M combinations for production of CH 3 OH and HCHO. Among the thirteen Cu/MO x tested, Cu/WO 3 exhibited the highest total yield of CH 3 OH and HCHO in a CH 4 ‐O 2 ‐H 2 O flow reaction at 400 °C. The structural and property analysis of Cu/WO 3 revealed the formation of CuWO 4 , of which the lattice oxygen is active for the partial oxidation of CH 4 .