日本ゼオライト学会　刊行物 Publication of Japan Zeolite Association

Novel MTB catalytic technology to produce benzene and hydrogen from methane and its industrial application was reviewed in terms of the advanced utilization of methane resources such as natural gas, COG, CBM, methane hydrates and biogas. High benzene yields (60-85% selectivity) in MTB reaction on Mo/Re supported zeolite catalysts are discussed on the product molecular selectivity based on Simodified ZSM-5 and MCM-22 having the microporous apertures of 5.5 Å diameter like benzene size. The MTB catalytic performances are kept stable for long time-on-stream by addition of a few % of CO₂ (and/or H₂) in the methane feed and H₂-switching method due to the effective in situ removal of coke on the catalyst surface. The demonstration study of the MTB technology by modified Mo/ZSM-5 catalysts has been conducted by NEDO consortium project using natural gas and NLCE project at Bekkai, Hokkaido using cow-dung derived biogas. The economic evaluation of the industrial MTB process has been discussed using COG-derived methane and off-site natural gas to produce benzene as the plastics and commodity feed stocks over the conventional oil refinery, particularly due to the recent drastic oil cost-inflation.