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A Better Way to Convert Natural Gas Into Petrochemical Materials
China has developed a more efficient way to convert natural gas into petrochemical materials using microwave catalyzing technology, opening up a new way to better use natural gas resources.
The technology will increase the one-way C2 hydrocarbon yield rate to 70 percent from 6 percent in using the traditional method, while the highest yield rate in developed countries is 30 percent.กก
And by using the direct plasma conversion method under normal or high air pressure, the one-way ethene yield rate has increased 25 percent, which was claimed the highest in the world by its developers.
The technology was developed by a group of researchers headed by Dr. Zhang Jinsong, a research fellow at the Metal Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), as one of the key State-funded research programs between 1996-2000.
It is very complicated and expensive to convert natural gas into commonly used petrochemical materials like ethene and ethyne and scientists around the world are trying to find more efficient ways to produce ethene and ethyne, said Zhang.
The new technique and related experimental facilities have passed an appraisal by experts last month, which was organized by the Ministry of Sciences and Technology.
Zhang said the prospects are bright for the application of the new technique, as the country's verified natural gas reserve has been growing and more natural gas will be used by petrochemical plants in China, particularly in the country's western region, which has an abundance of natural gas.กก
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