Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Direct alcohol synthesis using modified cobalt catalysts: A progress report

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6918359

We describe the preparation, characterization, and kinetic activity measurements of a sequence of Cu : ZnO and Cu : Co : ZnO : Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ catalysts for alcohol synthesis via CO hydrogenation. For binary Cu : ZnO catalysts prepared by various precipitation methods, methanol is the only reaction product and its rate for formation is proportional to the metallic Cu surface area of the catalysts. For Cu : Co : ZnO : Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ : K catalysts, a Schulz-Flory-Anderson distribution of higher alcohols forms the major product group, with smaller amounts of hydrocarbons and methanol being formed in parallel. The overall yield of higher alcohols increases linearly with CO conversion, while the selectivity for hydrocarbon products increases slightly with conversion. The product alcohols do not undergo a significantly degree of secondary reaction at the concentrations formed under these conditions. Temperature programmed desorption experiments using both H/sub 2/ and CO reveals the presence of distinguishable Cu and Co adsorption sites, with some limited evidence for interaction between sites. The overall results are consistent with a mechanism for higher alcohol synthesis that involves chain growth of a common surface alkyl intermediate at a surface-modified Co site, followed by a chain termination step which determines whether the final product desorbs as an alcohol or hydrocarbon. 26 refs.

Research Organization:
Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge (USA). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
DOE Contract Number:
FG05-87ER13814
OSTI ID:
6918359
Report Number(s):
DOE/ER/13814-1; ON: DE88014120
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English