Oxidative coupling of methane (OCM)
is a compelling strategy for
the direct conversion of methane to C2+ hydrocarbons in
order to produce fuels and value-added chemicals. Nevertheless, it
remains challenging to achieve the high C2+ yield that
is desirable in industrial synthesis. Here, a lithium, tungsten-codoped
Mg-Mn based oxygen carrier, (Li,W)-Mg6MnO8,
is prepared for the chemical looping oxidative coupling of methane
(CLOCM) technology. The designed codoped oxygen carrier exhibits an
improved OCM performance with a C2+ yield of 28.6% at 850
°C, which is 80% higher than the combined yields of the single
Li- and W-doped oxygen carriers, and 330% higher than that of the
undoped Mg6MnO8 oxygen carrier. The enhanced
activity has also been demonstrated over 50 redox cycles in the CLOCM
system. In combination with solid characterization, density functional
theory calculations reveal that, as compared to the single-metal-doped
Mg6MnO8, the Li and W codopants work synergistically
which not only enhances CH3 dimerization but also inhibits
CO2 formation. This effect was attributed to the suppressed
formation of unselective oxygen vacancies, which in turn leads to
the C2+ yield enhancement. As a result, (Li,W)-Mg6MnO8 was found to be one of the best performing oxygen
carriers as compared to other oxygen carriers reported in the literature.
These findings provide new insights into the understanding of the
codoping effect on the activity of a Mg-Mn based oxygen carrier for
C2+ production and can open new avenues to design an environmentally
and economically feasible CLOCM system.