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Advances in joint research between NIRE and RITE for developing a novel technology for methanol synthesis from CO 2 and H 2
Author(s) -
Saito Masahiro,
Takeuchi Masami,
Fujitani Tadahiro,
Toyir Jamil,
Luo Shengcheng,
Wu Jingang,
Mabuse Hirotaka,
Ushikoshi Kenji,
Mori Kozo,
Watanabe Taiki
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
applied organometallic chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.53
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1099-0739
pISSN - 0268-2605
DOI - 10.1002/1099-0739(200012)14:12<763::aid-aoc98>3.0.co;2-4
Subject(s) - catalysis , methanol , chemistry , calcination , copper , hydrogen , catalyst support , industrial catalysts , chemical engineering , syngas , inorganic chemistry , organic chemistry , engineering
Abstract NIRE and RITE have jointly performed a national R&D project on methanol synthesis from CO 2 and hydrogen in order to contribute to CO 2 mitigation. In the first step, many attempts were made at developing high‐performance catalysts for methanol synthesis. The roles of metal oxides contained in Cu/ZnO‐based catalysts were classified into two categories: (1) Al 2 O 3 or ZrO 2 improves the dispersion of copper particles in the catalyst; (2) Ga 2 O 3 or Cr 2 O 3 increases the activity per unit copper surface area of the catalyst. The long‐term stability of Cu/ZnO‐based catalysts during methanol synthesis from CO 2 and hydrogen was improved by adding a small amount of silica to the catalysts, and then calcining the catalysts at high temperatures around 873 K. Silica added to the catalysts suppressed the crystallization of ZnO contained in the catalysts, which was probably caused by the action of water produced together with methanol. Based on those two important findings, high‐performance Cu/ZnO‐based multicomponent catalysts (Cu/ZnO/ZrO 2 /Al 2 O 3 /SiO 2 and Cu/ZnO/ZrO 2 /Al 2 O 3 /Ga 2 O 3 /SiO 2 ) were developed. The catalysts developed were found to be highly active and extremely stable in methanol synthesis from CO 2 and hydrogen. In the next step, a bench plant with a capacity of 50 kg day −1 of CH 3 OH, which was equipped with facilities for recycling unreacted gases and gaseous products, was successfully operated. The activity of the Cu/ZnO/ZrO 2 /Al 2 O 3 /SiO 2 catalyst was 580 g h −1 of CH 3 OH per liter of catalyst under the reaction conditions of 523 K, 5 MPa and SV = 10,000 h −1 in 1000 h on stream. The selectivity to methanol synthesis was as high as 99.7%, and the purity of crude methanol produced was 99.9 wt%, whereas the purity of crude methanol produced from syngas in a present‐day commercial plant was reported as 99.6 wt%. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.