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Download filePreparation of a highly active ternary Cu-Zn-Al oxide methanol synthesis catalyst by supercritical CO2 anti-solvent precipitation
journal contribution
posted on 2018-05-30, 12:59 authored by Simon KondratSimon Kondrat, Paul J. Smith, Li Lu, Jonathan K. Bartley, Stuart H. Taylor, Michael S. Spencer, Gordon J. Kelly, Colin W. Park, Christopher J. Kiely, Graham J. HutchingsMethanol synthesis using Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalysts is a well-established industrial process. Catalyst development is always an important factor and this has resulted in the current fully optimised commercial catalyst that is prepared by co-precipitation via hydroxycarbonate precursors. Recently, the synthesis of a CuZn hydroxycarbonate precursor, analogous to the rare mineral georgeite, was reported to produce a high activity methanol synthesis catalyst. Here we report the addition of Al 3+ , the third component found in industrial catalysts, to the zincian georgeite-derived catalyst prepared using a supercritical CO 2 anti-solvent precipitation methodology. The co-addition of an AlO(OH) sol to the Cu/Zn precursor solution was found to not disrupt the formation of the CuZn georgeite phase, while providing efficient mixing of the Al 3+ within the material. The catalyst derived from the CuZn georgeite precursor phase doped with Al 3+ showed a high level of methanol synthesis productivity, which was comparable to that of the binary CuZn georgeite derived catalyst. This material also exhibited enhanced stability during an accelerated ageing test compared to the non-Al doped zincian georgeite material. Performance was benchmarked against an industrially relevant Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 standard catalyst.
Funding
We would like to thank the EPSRC and UK Catalysis Hub for funding (grants EP/K014714/1, EP/K014714/1, EP/K014668/1, EP/K014706/1, EP/H000925/1, EP/I019693/1 and EPSRC Grant EP/L027240/1). CJK gratefully acknowledges funding from the National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation program (GR# MRI/DMR-1040229).
History
School
- Science
Department
- Chemistry
Published in
Catalysis TodayCitation
KONDRAT, S.A. ... et al, 2018. Preparation of a highly active ternary Cu-Zn-Al oxide methanol synthesis catalyst by supercritical CO2 anti-solvent precipitation. Catalysis Today, 317, pp.12-20.Publisher
Elsevier © The AuthorsVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
Publisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/Acceptance date
2018-03-23Publication date
2018Notes
This is an Open Access Article. It is published by Elsevier under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The article in press version will be replaced by the published version once this is available.ISSN
0920-5861Publisher version
Language
- en