2567.     PARIS, A.  [Mild Oxidation of Methane Under Pressure.]  chim. et ind., Special No., April 1934, pp. 411-420; Brennstoff-Chem., vol. 15, 1934, p. 413; Chem. Abs., vol. 28, 1934, p. 5806.

        Investigation into the optimum conditions for formation of MeOH and CH₂O when working in a closed cycle.  The possibility of isolating appreciable quantities of the principal oxidation product of CH₄ (MeOH) by raising the total pressure while at the same time remaining far enough from the limits of inflammability of CH₄-O₂ mixtures, seems to be due only tot he selective increase in the rate of the reaction CH₄+0.5 O₂=CH₃OH, relative to all the other reactions possible.  This possibility is still further increased, and for the same reason but to a much greater extent, by increasing the ratio of CH₄ pressure to O₂ pressure.  Temperature has but a very slight effect on the yields, the optimum detected at 450° being due to the fact that oxidation of MeOH starts long before that of CH₄ and that toward 500° it proceeds at an increasingly rapid rate.  Industrial application can be conceived only by utilizing intensive circulation to compensate the low conversion resulting from the necessarily small O₂ content of the mixture.