skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: A novel process for methanol synthesis

Abstract

A bench-scale reactor is being used to conduct studies of the conversion of synthesis gas to methanol by a novel process. During the last quarter, we provided evidence for a two step reaction in series as against the direct hydrogenation of CO. We believe that the carbonylation reaction takes place in the liquid phase adjacent to the solid catalyst surface while the hydrogenolysis reaction is restricted to the surface of Cu-chromite. A non-equilibrium film model was proposed to explain the unexpectedly high reaction rates and the increased tolerance of the process to CO. In this quarter, we looked at the effect of Cu-chromite loading and surface area. A Cu-chromite catalyst was synthesized in-house using a coprecipitation technique and its activity compared to a commercial catalyst. The effect of stirrer speed and feed flow rate on the rate of MeOH synthesis was also investigated. In the absence of mass transfer limitations, the rate of methanol synthesis (expressed per unit weight of the catalyst) varies with catalyst loading and feed flow rate. It is likely that a deactivating species is generated in-situ or is present in the feed. 8 refs., 6 figs., 5 tabs.

Authors:
;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pittsburgh Univ., PA (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
5017885
Report Number(s):
DOE/PC/89786-T3
ON: DE92001962
DOE Contract Number:  
FG22-89PC89786
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT; 10 SYNTHETIC FUELS; CHROMIUM COMPOUNDS; CATALYTIC EFFECTS; COPPER COMPOUNDS; PARTICLE SIZE; METHANOL; SYNTHESIS; SYNTHESIS GAS; CONVERSION; BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS; CARBON MONOXIDE; PROGRESS REPORT; STIRRING; SURFACE AREA; ALCOHOLS; CARBON COMPOUNDS; CARBON OXIDES; CHALCOGENIDES; DOCUMENT TYPES; FLUIDS; GASES; HYDROXY COMPOUNDS; ORGANIC COMPOUNDS; OXIDES; OXYGEN COMPOUNDS; SIZE; SURFACE PROPERTIES; TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS; 010408* - Coal, Lignite, & Peat- C1 Processes- (1987-); 100200 - Synthetic Fuels- Production- (1990-)

Citation Formats

Tierney, J W, and Wender, I. A novel process for methanol synthesis. United States: N. p., 1991. Web. doi:10.2172/5017885.
Tierney, J W, & Wender, I. A novel process for methanol synthesis. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/5017885
Tierney, J W, and Wender, I. 1991. "A novel process for methanol synthesis". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/5017885. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/5017885.
@article{osti_5017885,
title = {A novel process for methanol synthesis},
author = {Tierney, J W and Wender, I},
abstractNote = {A bench-scale reactor is being used to conduct studies of the conversion of synthesis gas to methanol by a novel process. During the last quarter, we provided evidence for a two step reaction in series as against the direct hydrogenation of CO. We believe that the carbonylation reaction takes place in the liquid phase adjacent to the solid catalyst surface while the hydrogenolysis reaction is restricted to the surface of Cu-chromite. A non-equilibrium film model was proposed to explain the unexpectedly high reaction rates and the increased tolerance of the process to CO. In this quarter, we looked at the effect of Cu-chromite loading and surface area. A Cu-chromite catalyst was synthesized in-house using a coprecipitation technique and its activity compared to a commercial catalyst. The effect of stirrer speed and feed flow rate on the rate of MeOH synthesis was also investigated. In the absence of mass transfer limitations, the rate of methanol synthesis (expressed per unit weight of the catalyst) varies with catalyst loading and feed flow rate. It is likely that a deactivating species is generated in-situ or is present in the feed. 8 refs., 6 figs., 5 tabs.},
doi = {10.2172/5017885},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/5017885}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1991},
month = {Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1991}
}