Natural gas (with methane as its main component) provides an attractive energy source because of its large abundance and its high heat of combustion per mole of carbon dioxide generated. However, the emissions released from the conventional flame combustion (essentially NO_x) have harmful impacts on the environment and the human health. Within the scope of rational and clean use of fossil energies, the catalytic combustion of natural gas appears as one of the most promising alternatives to flammable combustion. The presence of catalysts enables complete oxidation of methane at much lower temperatures (typically 500 °C), so that the formation of pollutants can be largely avoided. This work presents a literature review on the catalytic methane combustion. Various aspects are discussed including the catalyst types, the reaction mechanisms and kinetic characteristics, effects of various influencing operational factors and different reactor types proposed and tested. This paper may serve as an essential reference that contributes to the development of well-designed reactors, equipped with appropriate catalysts, and under well-handled operating conditions to realize the favorable (kinetic) performance, for their future applications and propagation in different industrial sectors.

天然气（以甲烷为主要成分）提供了诱人的能源，这是因为天然气的丰富性和每摩尔二氧化碳产生的高燃烧热。但是，传统火焰燃烧释放的排放物（基本上是NO _x）对环境和人类健康产生有害影响。在合理和清洁使用化石能源的范围内，天然气的催化燃烧似乎是可燃燃烧最有希望的替代方法之一。催化剂的存在使甲烷能够在低得多的温度（通常为500°C）下完全氧化，因此可以很大程度上避免形成污染物。这项工作提供了有关催化甲烷燃烧的文献综述。讨论了各个方面，包括催化剂类型，反应机理和动力学特性，各种影响操作因素的影响以及提出和测试的不同反应器类型。本文可以作为必不可少的参考资料，有助于开发设计合理，配备了合适催化剂的反应堆，