Influence of the calcination on the activity and stability of the Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst in liquid phase methanol synthesis

Abstract: Catalyst Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 was prepared through co-precipitation method and investigated in a stirred slurry autoclave reactor system for methanol synthesis. The structure of the catalysts was studied by derivative thermogravimetry (DTG), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and H2 temperature programmed reduction (H2-TPR). The results show that the average size of CuO crystallite of the catalyst was 3.23nm when the catalyst was calcined at 623K for 2.0h, and the catalyst with this size of CuO crystallite is highly active and stable. Its space time yield and deactivation rate reached 172.2g/kgcat·h and 0.43%/d, respectively under the reaction conditions of 513K, 4.0MPa, H2/CO/CO2 =68/24/5 and space velocity=810ml/gcat·h. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]