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ePaper created 2017-03-14, 10:25:37 | version 1.49.03
methane N A D ( P ) H N A D P + methanol water oxygen water 2 3 4 Contact Dipl.-Ing. Matthias Stier Phone +49 711 970-4075 matthias.stier@igb.fraunhofer.de Prof. Dr. Dieter Bryniok Phone +49 711 970-4211 dieter.bryniok@igb.fraunhofer.de Literature [1] Leibniz-Institut für Katalyse, Zweijahresbericht 2013 und 2014, S. 36 – 37; available at: www.catalysis.de/institut/ oeffentlichkeitsarbeit,accessed on 31st Januar 2017 [2] Nguyen, L. et al. (2006) J. Catal. 237(1): 38 – 48 concentrations of the substrates formaldehyde and methane as well as of the products. Thus, a complete balancing of chemical and biological reactions is reliably possible. Progress in process development After successful conversion of methane to the basic chemicals methanol and formic acid, the production of both substances could be further improved in the pilot plant at Fraunhofer IGB. The measurement capabilities of the foxySPEC mass spec- trometer proved to be the crucial step. With its help, coupling of the chemocatalytic processes to produce formaldehyde from methane with the enzymatic process was successful. Outlook The technical process for the production of methanol and for- [3] Burrows, K. J. et al. (1984) Microbiology 130(12): 3327 – 3333 mic acid from biogas is a model for further enzyme-technical [4] Lee, E.-H. et al. (2010) J. Hazard. Mater. 184(1): 313 – 320 processes with gaseous substrates in the gas phase and in combination with chemocatalytic reactions. A promising follow-up approach is the use of methanotrophic bacteria and their key enzyme methane monooxygenase (MMO) for the production of different base chemicals [4]. This represents an important step towards the material use of biogenic materials via intermediate products such as biogas or synthesis gas. Funding We would like to thank the German Federal Environmental Foun- dation (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, DBU) for granting of a doctoral sponsorship and the German Federal Ministry of Educa- tion and Research (BMBF) for funding of the project “ECOX”, promotional reference 031A168A. Further information www.foxyspec.fraunhofer.de 1 Combined chemocatalytic-enzymatic process for the production of methanol and formic acid from biogas. 2 Enzyme pressure reactor. 3 Real-time mass spectrometer foxySPEC. 4 Methanotrophic bacterium. 8 1