A New Method of Low Temperature Methanol Synthesis

Abstract

Low temperature methanol synthesis is a promising technique for the practical methanol industry. New developments of a new kind of low temperature methanol synthesis were reviewed, including the effects of feed gas, reaction solvent, supercritical media and catalyst modification. The reaction mechanism and kinetics were also summarized primarily. Carbon dioxide played an important role in this new kind of low temperature methanol synthesis. It reacted with hydrogen adsorbed on catalyst surface to form HCOOM, an important reaction intermediate. Alcohol solvent in the low temperature methanol synthesis performed not only a media, but also a homogeneous catalyst. The reaction of the adsorbed formate species with alcohol on Cu/ZnO catalyst surface proceeded according to the Rideal mechanism rather than Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism to form alkyl formate. The formation of alkyl formate from alcohol solvent and hydrogenation of such an alkyl formate were the key steps in low temperature methanol synthesis reaction. These results provided new insights into low temperature methanol synthesis.

A novel condensation reactor for efficient CO2 to methanol conversion for storage of renewable electric energy

“…Several methods for shifting the equilibrium have been proposed in literature. For example, the equilibrium can be shifted by the use of membranes [10][11][12], using solvents such as n-dodecane [13], TEGDME [14] or alcohols [15]. Another way to shift the equilibrium is by condensation of the products vapors either by high pressure (200 bar) [16], very high pressure (>360bar) [17], a radial temperature gradient [18] or a temperature gradient between a hot and a cold plate [19].…”

A sol–gel auto-combustion method to prepare Cu/ZnO catalysts for low-temperature methanol synthesis

“…Cu 0 was beneficial in methanol formation, exhibiting higher hydrogenation capability. As clarified by our previous research on this new low-temperature synthesis method, [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] metallic Cu 0 was the active site for the hydrogenation of formic ester in forming methanol. From the TPR findings, the burnt catalyst with finely dispersed Cu oxide was easier to be reduced, as shown by its behavior in C 0.5 , C 1.4 , and C 1.8 .…”

“…The effects of reaction temperature on lowtemperature methanol synthesis are investigated in Table 3. In our former work, [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] 443 K was found to be the best temperature when co-precipitation and impregnation method were used to prepare Cu/ZnO catalysts with a series of different alcohols as solvent and promoters. When the sol-gel combustion method was used, the effect of reaction temperature on the activity and methanol selectivity of the burnt catalysts was investigated.…”

“…A new method for low-temperature methanol synthesis from CO/CO 2 /H 2 on Cu/ZnO-based catalysts using alcohol as solvent and a promoter is proposed by the present authors; the methanol is produced at 443 K and 5.0 MPa. [16][17][18][19][20][21][22] A small amount of CO 2 (5%) in the syngas could promote the conversion of CO. The used alcohol solvent contains a small amount of water, so this new low-temperature process could directly use low-grade syngas containing CO 2 and H 2 O without purification.…”

Catalytic Performance of Cu/ZnO/A12O3/ZrO2 for Slurry Methanol Synthesis from CO2 Hydrogenation: Effect of Cu/Zn Molar Ratio

“…The advantages of the three-phase reactor system are mild reaction conditions, higher methanol selectivity and higher catalytic activity (Graaf et al 1996). Brookhaven National Laboratory showed that methanol was highly produced from CO/H 2 at low temperature of 373-403K using a NaH/ tertiary amyl alcohol/Ni(OAc) 2 catalyst (Xu et al 2009). However, the catalyst is less active and selective in CO 2 hydrogenation to methanol due to the strong basic property of the catalyst which can easily deactivated by traces amount of CO 2 and water.…”