Ruthenium shows high thermal stability when incorporated in perovskite type structure. Perovskite type lanthanum ruthenate materials can be synthesized using various improved methods and can be used even for high temperature applications like methane combustion. La3.5Ru4.0O13 material in supported and un-supported forms has been synthesized using various techniques, mostly used for the first time to synthesize this material. This improved synthesis of La3.5Ru4.0O13 resulted in improved physical and catalytic properties. This paper reports synthesis of supported and un-supported La3.5Ru4.0O13 Materials and laboratory evaluations of their catalytic activity towards methane combustion reaction. La3.5Ru4.0O13 shows high thermal stability, which could be due to stable 4+ oxidation state of ruthenium and its incorporation in perovskite type structure. Ruthenium based materials show good activity for methane oxidation probably due to intrinsic activity of their ruthenium component. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.