Methyl chloride via oxyhydrochlorination of methane: A building block for chemicals and fuels from natural gas. Environmental assessment

DOE`s natural gas mission, in partnership with its stakeholders, is to undertake and promote activities to maximize the Nation`s ability to supply, transport, and use natural gas to encourage economic growth, enhance energy interests security, and improve the environment. In implementing this mission, DOE has been involved in promoting domestic natural gas as a clean, abundant, and reliable source of energy. In particular, DOE is interested in technologies capable of converting natural gas to other valuable resources, such as transportation fuels, hydrogen, and premium chemicals. The purpose of the proposed action is to further examine the potential of one such technology for natural gas conversion. Over the past five years, DOE`s Pittsburgh Energy Technology Center has supported a research program to determine the feasibility of producing methyl chloride (CH{sub 3}Cl), a key ingredient used in the silicone industry, directly from methane (the primary component of natural gas) via an oxyhydrochlorination (OHC) process. As a result of this research program the OHC process is now ready for further development. The proposed action would advance the OHC natural gas conversion technology to an integrated engineering-scale process at the Dow Corning plant in Carrollton, Kentucky