Methane conversion using carbon dioxide as an oxidizing agent: A review

Recent trends on the direct conversion of methane, employing carbon dioxide as an oxidizing agent are reviewed. While oxidation using molecular oxygen involves the sequential oxidation of various intermediates to generate carbon dioxide and exhibits low selectivity for the desired products, methane activation using carbon dioxide as an oxidant eliminates this sequential oxidation and has considerable promise. In this context, supported metal catalysts can promote the dry reforming of methane, and structured oxide catalysts have been found to enable methane coupling to C2 products, using carbon dioxide as the oxidizing agent. This review also summarizes recent research regarding the use of nonconventional processes for methane activation in conjunction with carbon dioxide.