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Bridging the Time Gap: A Copper/Zinc Oxide/Aluminum Oxide Catalyst for Methanol Synthesis Studied under Industrially Relevant Conditions and Time Scales
Author(s) -
Lunkenbein Thomas,
Girgsdies Frank,
Kandemir Timur,
Thomas Nygil,
Behrens Malte,
Schlögl Robert,
Frei Elias
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201603368
Subject(s) - catalysis , methanol , zinc , copper , bridging (networking) , chemical engineering , oxide , nanoparticle , materials science , aluminum oxide , copper oxide , aluminium , inorganic chemistry , chemistry , nanotechnology , metallurgy , organic chemistry , computer science , computer network , engineering
Long‐term stability of catalysts is an important factor in the chemical industry. This factor is often underestimated in academic testing methods, which may lead to a time gap in the field of catalytic research. The deactivation behavior of an industrially relevant Cu/ZnO/Al 2 O 3 catalyst for the synthesis of methanol is reported over a period of 148 days time‐on‐stream (TOS). The process was investigated by a combination of quasi in situ and ex situ analysis techniques. The results show that ZnO is the most dynamic species in the catalyst, whereas only slight changes can be observed in the Cu nanoparticles. Thus, the deactivation of this catalyst is driven by the changes in the ZnO moieties. Our findings indicate that methanol synthesis is an interfacially mediated process between Cu and ZnO.