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The team improved a reaction called dry reforming of methane that converts methane and carbon dioxide into syngas, a valued mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide used by oil and chemical companies worldwide.

"Syngas is important because it's a platform for the production of a lot of chemicals of mass consumption," said ORNL's Felipe Polo-Garzon, who, with ORNL's Junyan Zhang, led the study published in Nature Communications.

Improving the catalyst that speeds syngas production could have enormous impact on global energy security, cleaner fuels and chemical feedstocks.

In countries lacking oil reserves, syngas derived from coal or natural gas is critical for making diesel and gasoline fuels.

Moreover, syngas components can be used to make other commodity chemicals.