Bridging the Time Gap: A Copper/Zinc Oxide/Aluminum Oxide Catalyst for Methanol Synthesis Studied under Industrially Relevant Conditions and Time Scales.

Long-term stability of catalysts is an important factor in the chemical industry. This factor is often underestimated in academic testing methods, which may lead to a time gap in the field of catalytic research. The deactivation behavior of an industrially relevant Cu/ZnO/Al2 O3 catalyst for the synthesis of methanol is reported over a period of 148 days time-on-stream (TOS).

Different routes to methanol: inelastic neutron scattering spectroscopy of adsorbates on supported copper catalysts.

We have investigated methanol synthesis with model supported copper catalysts, Cu/ZnO and Cu/MgO, using CO/H2 and CO2/H2 as feedstocks. Under CO/H2 both catalysts show chemisorbed methoxy as a stable intermediate, the Cu/MgO catalyst also shows hydroxyls on the support. Under CO2/H2 the catalysts behave differently, in that formate is also seen on the catalyst.