Operando determination of the kinetics and structure of the copper-sites in copper-exchanged offretite using copper K-edge XANES spectroscop

The methane-to-methanol conversion is seen as one of the "holy grail" reactions of catalysis. One extensively examined approach is the chemical looping approach using copper exchanged zeolites. In-house studies have determined that copper-exchanged zeolite offretite outperforms all other zeolites in multiple metrics, not least yield.

Using quick XAS scans, we will investigate the kinetics of the different copper-species, as well as using XRD to examine the location of the copper-sites during each stage of the chemical looping cycle. On-line mass spectrometry will be used to observe the kinetics of product desorption and to determine the yield. Using the timeframes and yield will allow us to dermine the productivity of the process, a metric paramount to any other for determining if a process merits industrial valorisation.

As quick XAS scans and XRD may both be performed at BM31, it is the most suited beamline for such an experiment.