The Direct Partial Oxidation of Methane to Dimethyl Ether over Pt/Y ₂ O ₃ Catalysts Using an NO/O ₂ Shuttle

Using a mixture of NO + O 2 as the oxidant enabled the direct selective oxidation of methane to dimethyl ether (DME) over Pt/Y 2 O 3 . The reaction was carried out in a fixed bed reactor at 0.1 MPa over a temperature range of 275–375 °C. During the activity tests, the only carbon‐containing products were DME and CO 2 . The DME productivity (μmol g cat −1 h −1 ) was comparable to oxygenate productivities reported in the literature for strong oxidants (N 2 O, H 2 O 2 , O 3 ). The NO + O 2 mixture formed NO 2 , which acted as the oxygen atom carrier for the ultimate oxidant O 2 . During the methane partial oxidation reaction, NO and NO 2 were not reduced to N 2 . In situ FTIR showed the formation of surface nitrate species, which are considered to be key intermediate species for the selective oxidation.