This paper presents the results of lean methane oxidation in a two-chamber preheat catalytic reactor. A preheat catalytic reactor was built, and the effects of the space velocity (3800 h(-1) to 8100 h(-1)), the inlet methane concentration (0.6 vol.% to 0.8 vol.%) and the inlet temperature of catalytic oxidation bed (420 degrees C-540 degrees C) were experimentally investigated. The results showed that when the space velocity is low, the methane conversion rate maintains a high value. But when the space velocity is higher than 7100 h(-1), the methane conversion rate decreases dramatically. With the increases of the inlet methane concentration and the inlet temperature, the overall temperature of the oxidation bed increases rapidly, the temperature increment of the first catalytic ceramic layer increases, the methane conversion rate increases. (C) 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.