Conversion of methane to propane Is it possible to chemically convert methane into propane? 

If so, what is involved and is it economical?
Yes, it can be done by mimicking the conditions in the earth's mantle.

It was shown by Alexander Goncharov and coworkers [1] by placing methane in a diamond anvil cell, applying a pressure of more than 2 GPa and heating everything to a temperature around 1000-1500 K with a laser.

Is it economical? Hardly, but very interesting anyway!


Kolesnikov, A.; Kutcherov, V. G.; Goncharov, A. F. Nature Geosci 2009, 2 (8), 566–570. DOI 10.1038/ngeo591.