Solid methane (CH(4)), ethane (C(2)H(6)), and ethylene (C(2)H(4)) ices (thickness: 120 ± 40 nm; 10 K), as well as high-density polyethylene (HDPE: [C(2)H(4)](n)) films (thickness: 130 ± 20 nm; 10, 100, and 300 K), were irradiated with mono-energetic oxygen ions (Φ ~ 6 × 10(15) cm(-2)) of a kinetic energy of 5 keV to simulate the exposure of Solar System hydrocarbon ices and aerospace polymers t...

Conversion of wet biomass via gasification in supercritical water is a promising technology for the production of hydrogen and methane from renewable resources. The properties of water above the critical point enable reactions for the fast degradation of biomass and generation of a product gas consisting of hydrogen, methane, higher hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide without disturbing sulphurand ...

Plasmatron fuel converters have been investigated for the conversion of a wide range of fuels. This paper is one of a series of paper investigating the performance of plasmatron methane reformers. In this paper a systematic experimental investigation is carried out of the reformation of methane in a plasmatron fuel reformer at steady state conditions. The effect upon reformation of flow rate di...

The remarkable benefits associated with bringing to bear, the application of renewable energy carriers including fermentative hydrogen and methane, cannot be understated. Meanwhile, considering the tremendous benefits associated with the conversion of wastes to the two energy carriers (fermentative hydrogen and methane); people might be curious to know why the commercial application of the gree...

Selective, direct conversion of methane to methanol might seem an impossible task since the C-H bond energy of methane is 105 kcal mol(-1) compared to the C-H bond energy for methanol of 94. We show here that the Catalytica catalyst is successful because the methanol is protected as methyl bisulfate, which is substantially less reactive than methanol toward the catalyst. This analysis suggests ...

A minority of methanotrophs are able to utilize multicarbon compounds as growth substrates in addition to methane. The pathways utilized by these microorganisms for assimilation of multicarbon compounds, however, have not been explicitly examined. Here, we report the draft genome of the facultative methanotroph Methylocystis sp. strain SB2 and perform a detailed transcriptomic analysis of cultu...

2014 The oxidation of methane and n-butane with CO2 has been studied in 35 MHz electrical discharges, operated at variable gas flow rates (6-30 (STP) min-1), power densities (2-8 cal cm-3 s-1) and constant pressure of 20 torr. Evidence is presented that the primary step of the process is the rupture of a C-H bond and that the main route for the conversion of both methane and n-butane into CO is...

Modern energy challenges have motivated the development of electrochemical transformations of abundant feedstocks into valuable fuels and commodity chemicals. Now, reporting in ACS Central Science, Surendranath and co-workers introduce an electrochemical strategy that enables an organic transformation long-considered a grand challenge: selective methane activation. Methane, the primary componen...