Transient studies of low temperature catalysts for methane conversion. Quarterly technical progress report, January 1, 1995--March 31, 1995

Previous results showed that a 3% Rh/TiO{sub 2} catalyst was active during synthesis gas formation at temperatures significantly lower than those previously reported in the literature. In order to better understand the nature of the surface interactions between reacting gases and the catalyst surface, a series of transient experiments were conducted. The experiments consisted of pulses of methane and oxygen/methane mixtures diluted in helium carrier gas. In addition, temperature programmed desorption (TPD) studies were carried out on the fresh and used (post-run), Rh/TiO{sub 2}catalyst. The purpose of this study was to learn about the effect of the long residence time reaction on the surface activity of the catalyst. The objective of the pulse experiments was to determine the role of surface and lattice oxygen during methane activation process