Preparation of Cu-based Catalysts for Methanol Synthesis in a Fluidized Bed Reactor and Their Performance

Five Cu-based catalysts were prepared by sodium carbonate coprecipitation with different promoter contents. These catalysts were evaluated and characterized by SEM, XRD, particle size distribution and attrition jet index (AJI). It was found that the incorporation of ZrO2 gave the catalyst higher attrition resistance AJI value reached 0.056, the catalyst showed relative good activity and stability, CO conversion rate was about 40% and no remarkable deactivation was seen after 260℃ reaction for 50 h. Al2O3 drastically decreased catalytic activity by reacting with copper and zinc compounds in catalyst, CO conversion rate was only 10%, the enhancement of attrition resistance was much less, with an AJI value 0.103. The catalyst with Cu, Zn, Zr as main components was suitable for methanol synthesis in a fluidized bed reactor due to its high activity, long time stability and good attrition resistance.