Improved methanol synthesis performance of Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst by controlling its precursor structure

Abstract Methanol, a versatile chemical, fuel additive and potential H2 carrier, has attracted great attention. Despite of the wide industrialization, improvement of Cu-based methanol-synthesis catalysts is highly anticipated. Accordingly, a series of Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 with designed precursor structures were prepared, and its structure-function relationship was investigated to make progress on this area. Results showed the catalyst derived from highly zinc-substituted malachite demonstrated the best catalytic performance in this work. It was found that the well-behaved catalyst possessed relatively high Cu specific surface area and exposed Cu concentration, and the well Cu/ZnO synergy. CuZn alloy was found by In-situ XRD tests, and its effect on the catalyst’s thermostability was discussed. Fractional precipitation, which facilitated the Cu2+ substitution by Zn2+ in malachite lattice, could be an efficient preparation method of the Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst.