The review examines the current state of the catalytic conversion of natural gas into valuable chemical products and fuel. The main component of natural gas is methane. Methane conversion processes are of great importance for society because natural gas, along with oil, supplies us with energy, fuel and chemical products. Direct and indirect methods of methane conversion are considered. Direct conversion of methane is often viewed as the holy grail of modern research, since methane molecules are very stable. The review considers the methods of obtaining such compounds as synthesis gas, methanol, ethylene, formaldehyde, benzene, etc. The greatest emphasis is placed on the direct processes of methane conversion, namely on the dehydroaromatization of methane. The catalysts and the conditions for their preparation are considered, the state of active centers is studied, and the mechanism of methane dehydroaromatization is proposed. The reasons for deactivation of the catalysts and methods of their regeneration are also described. This review will help to summarize the latest known achievements in the field of heterogeneous catalysis for natural gas processing.

The purpose of this work is to present our latest achievements in the design, synthesis and development of a new catalytic microreactor for the processes of selective and continuous synthesis of substances with added value that are used in fine organic synthesis and pharmaceutical industries. In this advanced device, metal nanoparticles are embedded in mesoporous materials, which are deposited in the form of highly active and selective catalytic films on the walls of capillary microchannels with diameters of 220 and 530 μm. In such microreactor systems, there is no subsequent separation of the catalyst, which facilitates continuous operation. Potentially the most stable coatings are crystalline or amorphous titanium dioxide based metal oxides synthesized by the sol-gel method and containing embedded catalytically active polymetallic nanoparticles. The catalytic properties and operational stability of capillary microreactors were investigated at atmospheric pressure and compared with conventional industrial batch reactors. The developed Pd50Zn50 /TiO2 coating showed a higher activity (1.5 gMBE·gPd–1·s–1) and selectivity (96.7 %) in comparison with the coatings described earlier in the literature and with the industrial Lindlar catalyst, and retained high catalytic performance after 88 hours of reaction.

The paper considers the growing importance of gas chemistry for the world economy and the related necessity of developing new, particularly noncatalytic technologies for the conversion of natural gas and other hydrocarbon gases into chemical products. The available and promising noncatalytic processes of their conversion into syngas as well as the direct methods for the synthesis of chemical products from methane, which is the main component of natural gas, are discussed.

The study considers the process of ethylene oligomerization in a medium of aliphatic and aromatic solvents in the presence of complex catalytic systems based on zirconium carboxylates, which were obtained from the fractions of naphthenic acids recovered from Baku oils and individual carboxylic acids. It was found that the catalytic activity and the molecular weight distribution (MWD) of the produced oligomeric products depend mostly on the solvent nature and the composition of zirconium complex. The ethylene oligomerization rate in the presence of catalytic systems based on zirconium carboxylates is 2–3 times lower in a medium of aliphatic solvents as compared to aromatic solvents; the obtained product has a narrow MWD and consists predominantly of С4-С10 fractions. Oligomeric products obtained in a medium of aromatic solvents have a broad MWD and in the presence of zirconium carboxylates comprise mostly С4-С18, while in the presence of zirconium naphthenates, С12-С18 and С20 fractions.

The review considers the modern structure of methanol production and consumption. The main processes of methanol conversion and the catalysts for their implementation are reported: the production of formaldehyde, hydrocarbons (МТН) and olefins (МТО) as well as the generation of hydrogen from methanol by steam conversion, partial oxidation, autothermal reforming and decomposition.

The essay considers historical aspects of the emergence and development of methods for catalytic hydrogenation of organic compounds, starting from the works by P. Sabatier and V.N. Ipatieff. Particular attention is paid to the results of synthesis and investigation of hydrogenation metal catalysts based on Ni, Pd and Pt since they are significant for practical application. Modern trends and promising lines of investigation in the field of hydrogenation processes and catalysts are revealed.