The rates of methanol synthesis reaction on Cu-ZnO

Thesis/Dissertation · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1984

OSTI ID:5332318

Liu, S Y

In methanol synthesis using a copper-zinc oxide catalyst, the reactant mixture of CO, CO{sub 2} and H{sub 2} can under go three reactions: CO + 2 H{sub 2} = CH{sub 3}OH, CO{sub 2} + 3H{sub 2} = CH{sub 3}OH + H{sub 2}O and the water-gas shift reaction. This research addressed the questions of whether methanol is produced from CO or CO{sub 2}, and what are the roles played by CO{sub 2} and H{sub 2}O. The initial rates of methanol production were measured in a batch reactor at 195 to 225{degree}C and 17 atmosphere. All the measurements were made in the absence of mass and heat transport influence. The rates were found to increase with increasing CO{sub 2}/CO ratio in the feed, and were suppressed by the presence of water. From the C{sup 18}O{sub 2} isotope experiments, water was shown to suppress the production of C{sup 18}O and methanol-{sup 18}O but not methanol-{sup 16}O. There are at least four parallel reactions on the catalyst: CO-CO{sub 2} exchange which was the fastest, CO hydrogenation, CO{sub 2} hydrogenation, and water-gas shift. Exchange of lattice oxygen with oxygen in CO{sub 2} also took place. There was no evidence for the production of methanol from the reaction of CO and water. A relaxation method employing nonequilibrium thermodynamics for data analysis was applied to determine the equilibrium exchange rates of the three reactions in methanol synthesis. The magnitudes of these exchange rates were of the order of the initial rates of methanol production measured under similar conditions.

• Research Organization: Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5332318
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

10 SYNTHETIC FUELS
100200* -- Synthetic Fuels-- Production-- (1990-)
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290500 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Research
Development
Demonstration
& Commercialization
ALCOHOLS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CATALYSTS
CATALYTIC EFFECTS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COPPER COMPOUNDS
COPPER OXIDES
ENERGY TRANSFER
EQUILIBRIUM
HEAT TRANSFER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGENATION
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
MASS TRANSFER
METHANOL
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PRODUCTION
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SYNTHESIS
THERMODYNAMIC ACTIVITY
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
WATER
ZINC COMPOUNDS
ZINC OXIDES