Reaction kinetics of methane combustion on copper-based catalyst

An experimental investigation of methane combustion on copper-based catalyst was carried out in a micro-fixed bed reactor under atmospheric pressure at 450~500℃ with inlet methane volume fraction between 10% and 35%. The influence of methane partial pressure on reaction rate is found to be significant, while that of oxygen is neglectable. Parameters of the kinetic model were estimated using the least squares method. The resulted kinetic model of methane catalytic combustion is -r_CH4=1.61×10⁷×e^{-108 000/RT}×p_CH4^0.5. Predicted and experimental values of methane conversion agree well with each other, which shows the reliability and accuracy of the model. The above reaction can be described as a two-step reaction according to the experimental result. Oxygen reacts quickly with the active vacancy sites of the catalyst to form adsorbed oxygen molecules which reacts with methane molecule to form carbon dioxide and water.