Causes for deactivation in the liquid phase methanol synthesis catalyst
- Univ. of Akron, OH (United States)
- Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States)
The commercial methanol synthesis catalyst in its unreduced form of CuO/ZnO/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} must be reduced for the synthesis reaction to take place. Once the catalyst is fully activated via insitu reduction process, the catalyst is susceptible to various sources of deactivation. For the successful development of the liquid phase methanol synthesis process, the following problems with the catalyst deactivation, both internal and external, had to be solved: (a) poisoning by sulfur and carbonyls, (b) local spots and exothermic heat of reaction, (c) carbon fouling, (d) attrition, (e) leaching of catalyst ingredients, (f) thermal aging, and (g) crystallite size growth via hydrothermal synthesis. Both the symptoms and remedies of the above issues are discussed with experimental data and verification. This paper not only provides valuable information regarding the catalytic chemistry of methanol synthesis, but also elucidates the importance of catalytic process engineering in the development of a commercial catalytic reaction process.
- OSTI ID:
- 51925
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-940930--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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