THE EFFECT OF COBALT CONCENTRATION, METHANOL, AND ETHANOL ON THE ALCOHOL SYNTHESIS OVER A CUZNCR CATALYST

Doping CuZnCr (38/38/24) with Co (0-5 mol%), and adding methanol or ethanol to a CO + H-2 reactant mixture led to considerable modifications in catalytic activity and selectivity. Modification of the reducibility of the catalyst and copper aggregation were attributed to the presence of Co. The introduction of methanol inhibited production of other oxygenated compounds. On the contrary, the introduction of ethanol enhanced it. Results obtained with ethanol in the reactant flow for both Co-modified and unmodified catalysts suggest that production of methanol and ethanol are related and that the active sites for methanol synthesis are the same as those for higher alcohol synthesis under low-pressure reaction conditions. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.