Coalbed methane is a kind of associated and co-produced gas during the coal formation process. With methane as its main component, coalbed methane is also known as coal mine gas. With green and clean combustion characteristics and superior transportation advantages, methanol is an important basic chemical raw material and energy material. Converting coal mine gas into methanol, a liquid industrial raw material that is easy to store and transport, is a development direction of its comprehensive utilization, which is not only attractive to industrial demand, but also of great significance to alleviate energy crisis, reduce environmental pollution, and help to achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. With methane as a model gas, various technical approaches of direct catalytic oxidation of methane to methanol and their recent research progress for are summarized in this paper. Moreover, it also gives a brief outlook on the research direction and development prospects in this field. We hope that this study will provide reference and guidance for the industrial production of methanol from coalbed methane by direct catalytic oxidation in the future.

coalbed methane  /  methane  /  direct oxidation  /  methanol  /  catalyst