Methanesulfonyl Chloride Decomposition as a Key Step for Low‐Temperature Methane Conversions. Issue 4 (15th March 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kang, Shujuan; Zhou, Wei; Ma, Qisheng; Zhang, Qianwen; Chen, Guanyi; Tang, Yongchun
• Is Part Of: Chemical engineering & technology. Volume 40:Issue 4(2017)
• Page Start: 656
• Page End: 662
• Publication Date: 2017-03-15
• Subjects: Bimolecular nucleophilic substitution -- Catalytic decomposition -- Density functional theory -- Gas‐to‐liquid -- Methanesulfonyl chloride; Chemical engineering -- Periodicals; Chemical processes -- Periodicals; 660.05
• DOI: 10.1002/ceat.201500374
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0930-7516

Abstract

Abstract: The presence of SO2 in methane (CH4 ) halogenation/chlorination to form methanesulfonyl chloride (CH3 SO2 Cl, MSC), followed by catalytic decomposition of MSC to produce methyl chloride (CH3 Cl) could effectively prevent deeper reactions of CH3 Cl to improve the product selectivity. A number of catalytic systems capable of highly selectively decomposing MSC are studied experimentally. Molecular modeling based on density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggest a bimolecular nucleophilic substitution SN 2 reaction mechanism for the catalytic MSC decomposition reaction. The order of activation energies of different catalytic systems agrees with the laboratory observations. Abstract : Catalytic processes for selectively producing CH3 Cl through decomposition of CH3 SO2 Cl were investigated both experimentally and theoretically. The proposed decomposition process offers a great potential to rationalize the chemical engineering designs of an advanced gas‐to‐liquid technology to utilize stranded gases as energy source and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.