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Liquid phase methanol synthesis catalyst deactivation -- LPMeOH process vs. LPDME process

Book ·
OSTI ID:43181
 [1]; ;  [2];  [3]
  1. Korea Inst. of Science and Technology, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)
  2. Univ. of Akron, OH (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
  3. Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States)

Extensive research on the catalytic, liquid phase synthesis of methanol (LPMeOH{trademark}) from syngas was carried out in a three-phase mechanically agitated slurry reactor system. The methanol synthesis catalyst (Cu/ZnO/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}) was slurried in the oil phase and thoroughly agitated in the slurry reactor, where it was contacted with syngas. Since the methanol synthesis process is reversible in nature, it is adversely affected by the chemical equilibrium limitation. This equilibrium limitation is alleviated by a novel dual catalytic process (LPDME) which co-produces dimethyl ether with methanol, over a mixture of two catalysts comprised of the methanol synthesis catalyst and the methanol dehydration catalyst ({gamma}-alumina), slurried in the oil phase. This LPDME process increases the reactor productivity and syngas conversion obtained. The long term dual catalytic deactivation studies were conducted to study if the crystal growth in the methanol synthesis catalyst is alleviated by using it along with-alumina in the liquid phase. The results which indicated that {gamma}-alumina has a synergistic beneficial effect on the methanol synthesis catalyst, as it alleviates the crystal growth on Cu/ZnO/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}3, will be presented. Thus not only higher productivity is obtained in the coproduction of methanol and dimethyl ether, but also these productivities can be sustained for a longer time.

OSTI ID:
43181
Report Number(s):
CONF-940930--
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English