Methanol Production from Biomass Syngas using Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 Catalyst

Synthesis gas, also known as syngas, produced from biomass materials has been identified as a potential source of renewable energy. Syngas mainly consists of CO and H-2, which can be as raw materials for methanol synthesis using a catalyst in a fixed bed reactor. In recent times, methanol production has been significantly augmented in energy and chemical industries as it is an essential molecule for chemical synthesis and other utilities such as clean transportation fuel. The assessment of methanol production for low cost, low temperature, and low pressure was conducted by a catalyst that has been developed. The role of the catalyst is the key to achieve optimal conditions through lower activation energy. The focus of this work has the performance test of Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 Catalyst to methanol production from syngas. First, the catalyst was prepared by the co-precipitation and impregnation method. The as-synthesized catalyst was then characterized using XRD, XRF, SEM-EDX, and BET. The result of XRD showed the catalyst has the same component (Al, Cu, Zn) with different crystallite diameter of CuO. The result of the SEM showed catalyst was collected on one site, but still in a relatively good distribution. From the BET surface area analyzer, the catalyst synthesized through the impregnation method (113.62 m(2)/g) has a bigger surface area than the co-precipitation method (43.26 m(2)/g) and commercial catalyst (64.75 m(2)/g). The catalytic activity of Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalysts in methanol production from syngas was preliminarily tested and compared with that commercial one. The result showed that hence the catalytic activity of Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalysts through co-precipitation and impregnation method was still inferior (0.96 % and 1.25 % yield methanol) compared to commercial one (1.26% yield methanol), they were potential to be used as a catalyst in the methanol production from syngas.