The 11th Natural Gas Conversion Symposium has been held in TromsØ, Norway. The Chief scientist of iChEM, Prof. Xinhe Bao, from Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Fudan University, has been chosen as the recipient of the 2016 Award for Excellence in Natural Gas Conversion, to recognize enduring and significant contributions of his group to science and technology for conversion of natural gas to valuable products.

This award is presented every three years since founded in 1987, totally 8 scientists have been chosen for this award. Prof. Bao is the only one recipient from Asia. His ability to combine theory, model catalysts, and technical catalysis in a very original manner has led to a number of breakthrough developments with both scientific and industrial impact. As specific contributions to the field of natural gas conversion three topics were highlighted. Firstly, the direct conversion of methane to aromatics using bi-functional Mo/ZSM-5 catalysts has been studied extensively by Prof. Bao with important new structure-performance relationships that have enabled higher aromatic yields. Secondly, CO hydrogenation to fuels and chemicals has been investigated with special reference to the role of confinement of nanoparticles in catalysis. Thirdly, direct conversion of methane to lower olefins has been realized for the first time using a catalyst with isolated iron sites, with interest in his finding noted from both the scientific community and industry. The chairman of this symposium, Prof. Krijn De Young, has highly appraised the continuous progress made by Bao’s group. He said that the related work has made a great breakthrough for carbon-catalysis concept formed in recent one hundred years, which will also lead a new direction for development in this field.