Carbides catalyze methane reforming

Chemists in England have serendipitously discovered that two group 6 transition-metal carbides catalyze the conversion of methane, or natural gas, to carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The mixture, known as synthesis gas, or syngas, is used industrially for the synthesis of methanol, as a source of hydrogen for ammonia manufacture by the Haber process, and to produce synthetic fuels by the Fischer-Tropsch reaction. Inorganic chemistry professor Malcolm L. H. Green and graduate students Andrew P. E. York, John B. Claridge, Attila J. Brungs, and Shik Chi Tsang, at Oxford University, found that molybdenum carbide (Mo 2 C) and tungsten carbide (WC) are active and stable catalysts for methane reforming at slightly elevated pressures [ Chem. Commun., 1997, 39 "We stumbled across this observation by accident about four years ago," Green tells C&EN. "But the discovery has been locked up in patenting until now." Using carbide catalysts for methane oxidation is counterintuitive, he explains. Carbides are normally very r...