Ethanol synthesis and water gas shift over bifunctional sulfide catalysts; Technical progress report, June 1992--August 1992

During this quarter, high pressure (up to 100 atm = 10.3 MPa), high temperature (up to 350{degrees}C) catalyst testing was carried out with the 20 Wt% CS/MoS{sub 2} catalyst that was prepared. It was verified that this is an active catalyst for the synthesis of linear C{sub l}-C{sub 4} alcohols and that the yield increases with increasing temperature. However, the product selectivity is shifted toward enhanced hydrocarbon production, principally of methane. Temperature, pressure, and flow rate dependences of the synthesis reactions were also investigated in the presence and absence of H{sub 2}S in the H{sub 2}/CO = 1/1 Synthesis gas during short term testing experiments. The temperature seemed to produce the largest effect on alcohol yield and on the hydrocarbon selectivity, with both increasing with increasing temperature. The presence of 45.5 ppM H{sub 2}S in the synthesis gas did increase the C{sub 2}{sup +} alcohol/methanol molar ratio at 285{degrees}C, but this effect was not noticeable at higher temperatures under the reaction conditions that were employed. On the other hand, the presence of H{sub 2}S decreased the yield of methane at high temperatures (340--350{degrees}C), but this effect was not noticeable at the lower temperatures that were utilized. At high temperature and pressure (350{degrees}C and 10.3 MPa) with 45.5 ppM H{sub 2}S in the synthesis gas, it was shown that increasing the gas hourly space velocity of the synthesis gas reactant significantly decreased the yield of methane, while affecting the yield of alcohols to a much lesser extent