Abstract:Methane as the main component of natural gas, has been widely used in power plants, natu⁃ral gas automobiles, and the synthesis of numerous compounds. However, the leakage and emission ofmethane can induce severe environmental issues due to its strong greenhouse effects. The reaction tem⁃perature of direct combustion of methane is so high that is often accompanied by high-temperature byproducts, such as NOx, which would cause air pollution issues. Catalytic combustion is an efficient andeco-friendly treatment technology for methane emission control, and the key for this technology is thedevelopment of efficient and stable catalysts. This paper reviews the recent research progress on noblemetal catalysts and non-noble metal catalysts for methane combustion. The noble metal catalysts haveexcellent low-temperature activity and various carrier selections, but their high cost and easy agglomer⁃ation restrict the industrial application. Non-noble metal catalysts have low cost and excellent thermalstability, but their light-off temperature is high, which can only be used for high-temperature applica⁃tions. Industrial exhaust gas often contains a large amount of water vapor and trace SO2. To meet thedemand of long time and stable industrial applications, the H2O and SO2 poisoning resistances of meth⁃ane combustion catalysts still need to be improved. In addition, this paper summarizes the recent re⁃search progress on active species and reaction mechanism for methane combustion, and then discussesthe prospect of noble metal catalysts and non-noble metal catalysts for industrial applications and thefuture research directions for methane catalytic combustion. Close-