bromine hydrobromic acid and methyl bromides are discharged the inner tube has an inlet end 250 where bromine is introduced into the tube the inner tube also has a plurality of openings 212 to allow the bromine to contact the methane in the outer tube rapidly mix and react the openings are preferably circular but can be of any shape or design known to one of ordinary skill in the art the openings may be spaced as desired there are preferably at least 3 openings located in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the inner tube openings may be located along more than one plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the inner tube for example there may be 4 openings located in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis and another 4 openings in a different plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis the openings are typically from 0 5 to 3 mm in diameter preferably from 1 to 2 mm in diameter it is understood that the size of the openings may be outside this range depending on the size of the apparatus and the flow of bromine and methane the inner tube preferably has a tapered tip at the end opposite the inlet end to improve the flow and mixing dynamics in the apparatus a halogenation catalyst may also be used in the.