303.    BOOTH, N.  Chemicals From Carbonization Gases.  I.  Separation of Methane and Ethylene.  II.  Treatment of Methane and Ethylene.  Coke Smokeless-Fuel Age, 1945, pp. 85-87, 112-114.

                  CH₄ may be decomposed by the action of heat with or without catalysts.  Natural gas and steam passed over Fe, Ni, and Co oxides at 5,000 lb. and 560°-600° C. gave liquid hydrocarbon products.  This process is not economically satisfactory unless the raw material is very cheaply obtained.  The yield of products is only moderate under the best conditions so far found.  CH₄ can be oxidized.  For example, the reaction CH₄+H₂O→CO+3H₂ has been used to produce the gas for the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis; CH₄+O₂→CH₃OH and CH₄+O₂→CO+2H₂, the last reaction occurring over a Ni catalyst at temperatures of about 850°-1,200° C., the product again being useful for hydrocarbon synthesis.

                  ---------------.  See abs. 1628.