Co-activation of methane and nitrogen to acetonitrile over MoCx/Al2O3 catalysts

Methane and nitrogen are regarded as the most abundant sources of hydrocarbons and nitrogen, respectively. Both compounds exhibit high stability due to the presence of daunting C–H and N≡N bond energies of 439 and 945 kJ mol−1, respectively, leading to their abundance. This study investigates the co-activation of methane and nitrogen using Al2O3-supported MoCx catalysts (1, 5, and 10 wt%) to produce acetonitrile (ACN) at ambient pressure. It was found that the optimum methane conversion (26.1%) and turnover frequency (TOF) of ACN (15.3 h−1) were achieved at 750 °C using 1 wt% Mo loading. To alleviate catalyst deactivation resulting from coking, H2 co-feeding was implemented and found to effectively sustain the on-stream activity for 50 hours. A plausible mechanism for ACN production, which occurs on the MoC-like surface, was proposed.