Research Center Seeks to Turn Methane into Transportable Liquid Fuel

A new center to develop technologies for converting methane gas and other hydrocarbon and fossil resources into readily transportable and higher-value liquid fuels is being established at the University of Virginia under a new $11 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

U.Va.’s new Center for Catalytic Hydrocarbon Functionalization will focus on identifying catalysts that will allow the conversion of methane into liquid fuels, including the reaction of methane and oxygen into methanol, which, if accomplished, would have the potential to greatly augment gasoline as a more environmentally friendly fuel.

Natural gas, which is largely made up of methane, is an extremely abundant energy resource in the world, but many of the largest fields are located in remote areas, such as Alaska’s North Slope, making access extremely difficult and expensive. The only feasible way to transport this energy resource would be to convert it from a gas to a liquid, thereby condensing the energy into transportable units. Transporting methane as a gas would require a substantial build-up of infrastructure and cost tens of billions of dollars for new pipelines.

“If we can find new technologies that will allow the large-scale utilization of methane, particularly in the transportation sector, the U.S. could very quickly supplant our use of petroleum and greatly reduce our dependence on foreign petroleum,” Gunnoe said.

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