TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Process: The process further involves subjecting the formaldehyde to catalytic dimerization to form the methyl formate; dehydrating methanol to produce dimethyl ether; heating the dimethyl ether in the presence of an acidic-basic or zeolitic catalysts to form ethylene or propylene; converting ethylene or propylene either to higher olefins, synthetic hydrocarbons or aromatics and their products for used as feedstocks for chemicals or as transportation fuels; hydrating ethylene or propylene to form ethanol or propanol; and forming dimethyl carbonate by reaction of the methanol with phosgene or by oxidative carbonylation of the methanol. In the process, the oxidation mixture is treated without separation of its components to convert the formaldehyde in it to methyl alcohol and formic acid, which are then subsequently converted to form methyl formate. The oxidation mixture is treated to form methyl alcohol and formic acid which further involves reacting the formaldehyde with the formic acid produced from the oxidation mixture to produce methanol. The methane is obtained from a source of natural gas, coal gas, or methane hydrates. The methane source is oxidized by contact with an oxidizing agent under conditions sufficient to substantially form methanol and formaldehyde. The oxidizing agent is molecular oxygen or air and a suitable catalyst. The oxidizing agent comprises hydrogen peroxide and an oxide catalyst. The oxide catalyst includes single or mixed catalysts based on vanadium, titanium, gallium, magnesium, copper, molybdenum, bismuth, iron, manganese, cobalt, niobium, zirconium, lanthanum, or tin and are optionally provided on a silica or alumina support. Any unreacted methane is recovered and recycled to be oxidized. The methyl formate is converted to methanol by catalytic hydrogenation. The methyl formate is converted to methanol by electrochemical reduction. EXAMPLE - A gaseous mixture of methane (20 mol.%) and oxygen (10 mol.%) diluted with nitrogen, was passed over preheated silica at 650 degrees C in a quartz tube continuous flow reactor to obtain formaldehyde in a single passover. The conversion of methane was 30%. Similar reactions over other oxide and mixed oxide catalysts were expected to provide yields of formaldehyde of 10-20% with 20-50% of methane conversion. Unreacted methane was recycled. Smaller amounts of CO and CO2 were produced used in the additional preparation of methanol. Air was substituted for oxygen in the oxidation step. In a subsequent second step, the product mixture was formed in the first step without any separation of the reaction products under basic catalytic conditions (calcium oxide and magnesium oxide) either under the gas phase flow conditions (100-180oC) or under batch conditions (at 150 degrees C) to obtain methanol (selectivity of greater than 90%).