Direct Conversion of Methane to Aromatics Experimental Studies and Quantified Database to Overcome the Deactivation Challenge

Abstract

The methane to aromatics conversion process is one of the non-oxidative methane conversion routes, which does not require the costly and energy-intensive syngas production that is the intermediate step for any methane conversion process. This process is not commercialized due to many challenges, including thermodynamic limitations leading to the low single-pass methane conversion and high-temperature requirement. Another challenge is the rapid catalyst deactivation, as complete catalyst deactivation occurs with few hours of operations. Efficient and fast regeneration of the catalyst that guarantees a continuous process by restoring the catalytic activity and maintain its stability is required. In this work, unconventional regeneration techniques are applied to achieve efficient regeneration and analyze the effect of different molecules (CO₂ and H₂) on the methane dehydroaromatization reaction performed in a fixed bed reactor.

In addition, a quantified database was created to document the historical experimental work done in this field and create a benchmark, help understand the impact of process variables and correlate them, and identify the gaps in the literature to direct future work in this field.