Natural gas articles within Nature Communications

Featured

• Article
  18 March 2024 | Open Access

  Well-defined diatomic catalysis for photosynthesis of C₂H₄ from CO₂

  Principal interest lies in diatomic catalysts (DACs) for efficient CO2 to C2H4 photoconversion yet optimizing catalytic performance and exploring reaction mechanisms are impeded by heteronuclear atom random distribution. Here, a novel up-bottom ion-cutting architecture is proposed for fabricating well-defined DACs.

  • Zhongkai Xie
  • , Shengjie Xu
  •  & Shuyan Song

• Article
  17 January 2024 | Open Access

  Regulating Au coverage for the direct oxidation of methane to methanol

  The direct oxidation of methane to methanol occurs in two steps that are difficult to control. Here, the authors use the OH binding strength as a descriptor to optimize the trade-off effect between the two pathways over Pd_xAu_y catalysts.

  • Yueshan Xu
  • , Daoxiong Wu
  •  & Quanbing Liu

• Article
  27 November 2023 | Open Access

  Lithium carbonate-promoted mixed rare earth oxides as a generalized strategy for oxidative coupling of methane with exceptional yields

  Lithium carbonate-promoted mixed rare earth oxides can be used as redox catalysts for OCM at 700 °C and achieve a single-pass C2+ yield up to 30.6%. The high activity is assigned to the peroxide and OH radicals induced by Pr⁴⁺ in the redox catalyst.

  • Kun Zhao
  • , Yunfei Gao
  •  & Fanxing Li

• Article
  18 November 2023 | Open Access

  Balancing elementary steps enables coke-free dry reforming of methane

  High-temperature hydrocarbon conversions often face issues like coke buildup and catalyst deactivation. Here, the authors show a general approach: balancing key reaction steps to achieve coke-free processes, exemplified in a 1000-hour coke-free dry reforming of methane process by optimizing C-H activation and C removal steps.

  • Jiaqi Yu
  • , Tien Le
  •  & Wenyu Huang

• Article
  06 October 2023 | Open Access

  Mechanism of the noncatalytic oxidation of soot using in situ transmission electron microscopy

  In this work, authors investigate mechanisms of noncatalytic soot oxidation and establish models applicable to different types of soot based on the particles oxidation behaviour using in-situ transmission electron microscopy.

  • Ming Gao
  • , Yongjun Jang
  •  & Fuchen Wang

• Article
  13 December 2022 | Open Access

  Risk of the hydrogen economy for atmospheric methane

  H₂ has the potential to become the green, low-carbon fuel of the future. However, hydrogen emissions impact atmospheric methane (CH₄). Bertagni et al. investigate the fate of atmospheric CH₄ in scenarios of H₂ economy.

  • Matteo B. Bertagni
  • , Stephen W. Pacala
  •  & Amilcare Porporato

• Article
  15 August 2022 | Open Access

  Efficient separation of butane isomers via ZIF-8 slurry on laboratory- and pilot-scale

  The separation of butane isomers, raw materials in petrochemical industry, is challenging. Here the authors report the separation of n-butane and isobutane using a metal-organic framework slurry; the separation can be performed at large scale in a pilot-scale separation tower.

  • Mingke Yang
  • , Huishan Wang
  •  & Guangjin Chen

• Matters Arising
  17 June 2022 | Open Access

  Multiple induced seismicity mechanisms at Castor underground gas storage illustrate the need for thorough monitoring

  • Víctor Vilarrasa
  • , Silvia De Simone
  •  & Antonio Villaseñor

• Article
  05 August 2021 | Open Access

  Closing the methane gap in US oil and natural gas production emissions inventories

  Methane emissions from oil and gas systems are underestimated in official inventories. Here the authors synthesize thousands of field measurements and develop an inventory-based model for a better understanding of why this underestimation exists and how it can be fixed.

  • Jeffrey S. Rutherford
  • , Evan D. Sherwin
  •  & Adam R. Brandt

• Article
  10 November 2020 | Open Access

  Direct conversion of methane to formaldehyde and CO on B₂O₃ catalysts

  Partial oxidation of methane to value-added C₁ products remains challenging due to the favorable formation of fully-oxidized CO₂. Here, the authors show supported B₂O₃ catalysts with tri-coordinated BO₃ units as the active site are highly selective in oxidizing methane to HCHO and CO.

  • Jinshu Tian
  • , Jiangqiao Tan
  •  & Yong Wang

• Article
  02 October 2020 | Open Access

  Exploiting two-dimensional morphology of molybdenum oxycarbide to enable efficient catalytic dry reforming of methane

  The two-dimensional morphology of molybdenum oxycarbide (2D-Mo₂CO_x) nanosheets dispersed on silica is found vital for the dry reforming of methane. Here the authors show that the specific activity of 2D-Mo₂CO_x/SiO₂ exceeds that of other Mo₂C-based catalysts by ca. 3 orders of magnitude.

  • Alexey Kurlov
  • , Evgeniya B. Deeva
  •  & Christoph R. Müller

• Article
  05 June 2020 | Open Access

  Single-atom Pt in intermetallics as an ultrastable and selective catalyst for propane dehydrogenation

  Propylene production via propane dehydrogenation demands a highly stable catalyst that works without deactivation even at high temperatures. Here, the authors show that single-atom Pt included in thermally stable intermetallic PtGa works as an active and selective catalyst for propane dehydrogenation even at 600 °C for 96 h without deactivation.

  • Yuki Nakaya
  • , Jun Hirayama
  •  & Shinya Furukawa

• Article
  20 April 2020 | Open Access

  Reactions of CO₂ and ethane enable CO bond insertion for production of C3 oxygenates

  Reacting CO₂ and ethane to achieve value-added C3 oxygenates offers opportunities to simultaneously reduce CO₂ emissions and upgrade underutilized ethane in shale gas. Here, the authors report a successful oxygenate production strategy enabled by inserting CO₂-derived CO into ethane-derived ethylene using a tandem reactor.

  • Zhenhua Xie
  • , Yuanguo Xu
  •  & Jingguang G. Chen

• Article
  20 August 2019 | Open Access

  Shale gas reserve evaluation by laboratory pyrolysis and gas holding capacity consistent with field data

  Quantification of shale gas reserves is critical to shape the energy policies of countries. Here, the authors present a new procedure to estimate gas in place and show that important UK gas reserves are actually much lower than previously thought.

  • Patrick Whitelaw
  • , Clement N. Uguna
  •  & Andrew D. Carr

• Article
  31 January 2019 | Open Access

  Direct functionalization of methane into ethanol over copper modified polymeric carbon nitride via photocatalysis

  While methane is a simple, abundant feedstock for chemical industry, the selective and facile conversion to more-complex products is challenging. Here, authors show copper-containing polymeric carbon nitride to convert methane to ethanol using light under mild conditions.

  • Yuanyi Zhou
  • , Ling Zhang
  •  & Wenzhong Wang

• Article
  11 January 2019 | Open Access

  Promoted cobalt metal catalysts suitable for the production of lower olefins from natural gas

  The conversion of natural gas to chemicals and fuels via the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process, depends on the ability of catalyst materials to suppress the formation of methane and carbon dioxide. Here, the authors develop a Co₁Mn₃-Na₂S catalyst, which has a hydrocarbon product spectrum deviating from the Anderson–Schulz–Flory distribution.

  • Jingxiu Xie
  • , Pasi P. Paalanen
  •  & Krijn P. de Jong

• Article
  26 October 2018 | Open Access

  Deconvolution of octahedral Pt₃Ni nanoparticle growth pathway from in situ characterizations

  Understanding the growth pathway of faceted alloy nanoparticles at the atomic level is crucial to morphology control and property tuning, but remains a challenge. Here, the authors reveal the particle growth and facet formation mechanisms of octahedral Pt₃Ni nanoparticles using multiple cutting-edge in situ techniques.

  • Xiaochen Shen
  • , Changlin Zhang
  •  & Zhenmeng Peng