Emerging importance of shale gas to both the energy & chemicals landscape

This perspectives article is intended highlight the growing importance and emergence of shale gas as an energy resource and as a source of chemicals. Over the next decades huge amounts of newly discovered deposits of trapped gas are expected to be produced not only in the USA but elsewhere providing a wealth of methane and ethane not only used for energy production, but also for conversion to lower hydrocarbon chemicals. This manuscript seeks to focus on the potential of trapped natural gas around the world. The potential new volumes of trapped gas within shale or other mineral strata coming to the marketplace offer a tremendous opportunity if scientists can invent new, cost effective ways to convert this methane to higher value chemicals. Understanding how to selectively break a single C–H bond in methane while minimizing methane conversion to CO2 is critical.