Working out of state-of-the-art labs at Cardiff University’s Translational Research Hub, the Cardiff team shared their expertise in catalyst design and advanced characterisation techniques.
Working out of state-of-the-art labs at Cardiff University's Translational Research Hub, the Cardiff team shared their expertise in catalyst design and advanced characterisation techniques. A more sustainable method of creating methanol - a key component of fuels, plastics, and medicines - has been developed by Cardiff scientists and an international team of collaborators. The process, which uses a highly active catalyst, converts oxygen and the natural gas methane into methanol at room temperature without the need for external energy sources such as light or electricity. The breakthrough builds on the Cardiff team's efforts to move away from expensive and energy-intensive processes by developing new catalytic methods with industry and promoting the use of catalysis as a sustainable 21 century technology. Their findings, published in Nature Catalysis , represent a significant step towards cleaner, greener methanol production which, with further development, could be used in industrial processes worldwide. Professor Graham Hutchings, Regius Professor of Chemistry at Cardiff University and a collaborating author on the paper said: "Identifying new and effective catalysts for methanol synthesis from methane is of crucial importance to provide new pathways for the modern chemical industry." The study is an international collaboration between the Max Planck Centre on the Fundamentals of Heterogeneous Catalysis , the newly established Net Zero Innovation Institute at Cardiff University and institutions overseas.
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