VATIS UPDATE Article

Chemistry professor Yogesh Surendranath and three colleagues at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the United States, have found a way to use electricity, which could potentially come from renewable sources, to convert methane into derivatives of methanol, a liquid that can be made into automotive fuel or used as a precursor to a variety of chemical products. This new method may allow for lower-cost methane conversion at remote sites.

The findings could pave the way to making use of a significant methane supply that is otherwise totally wasted. The researchers have developed a low-temperature electrochemical process that would continuously replenish a catalyst material that can rapidly carry out the conversion. This technology could potentially lead to “a relatively low-cost, on-site addition to existing wellhead operations,” said Surendranath.

The electricity to power such systems could come from wind turbines or solar panels close to the site. This electrochemical process, could provide a way to do the methane conversion – a process also known as functionalizing – “remotely, where a lot of the ‘stranded’ methane reserves are.”