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At the end of January 2008, Dow Chemical Company announced an investment of over $6.4 million to accelerate the development of technologies for the direct conversion of methane into industrially important olefins and olefin precursors. A scientific research team led by universities in Norway and Cardiff University will also conduct a 3-year study. Starting in March 2007, around 100 universities, research institutes, and companies also began conducting research on the challenges faced by Dow Chemical Company. Methane is the main component of natural gas, has large reserves, and is present in many parts of the world. Using other methods to convert methane into ethylene, propylene, or their precursors, rather than the more expensive syngas chemistry methods, is attracting significant attention. It may still take 5 to 10 years for this commercial solution to emerge. Dow Chemical and other companies still use naphtha and natural gas condensate, whose production costs are increasing, to manufacture chemicals and plastics. In other alternative feedstock projects, Dow Chemical is developing the production of chemicals from coal in China, and will build a facility in Brazil to convert sugarcane into ethylene. A team led by Tobin Marks, a professor of catalytic chemistry at the Center for Catalysis and Surface Science at Northwestern University, in collaboration with researchers from Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Virginia, is working to achieve the selective oxidation of methane into olefins or other useful materials through three additional approaches: controlling the concentration of the oxidant, utilizing recently developed alkane oxidation technologies, and employing oxidants that are highly selective yet have very low corrosivity. A team of researchers from Lehigh University and Imperial College London has gained experience with catalysts designed for gold catalysis, which enable the selective oxidation of methane under mild reaction conditions.