Combustion Synthesis of Cu-ZnO Catalyst for Methanol Production

Abstract

Combustion synthesis of a Cu-ZnO system as a typical catalyst for methanol production has never been reported in the literature inspite of its attractiveness. In this paper, the combustion synthesis of Cu-ZnO(-Al2O3) catalysts for the direct synthesis of methanol from combustion offgas CO-CO2-H2, was studied through differential thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction and MeOH synthesis experiments. The catalyst prepared by the precipitation method, 34.3 mol%Cu-51.4 mol%ZnO-14.3 mol%Al2O3, was most active for dimethyl ether ((CH3)2O, DME). However, the combustion-synthesized catalyst showed only MeOH activity, in which MeOH yield per specific area of the catalyst was the same value as that by the precipitation method. This suggests a possibility of a new catalyst preparation process based on combustion synthesis.