Clay-Supported Molybdenum-Based Catalysts for Higher Alcohol Synthesis from Syngas

A kind of clay-supported K-Co-Mo catalyst was prepared by a sol-gel method combined with incipient wetness impregnation. The catalyst structure was characterized by X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption-desorption, H2 temperature-programmed reduction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy techniques and its catalytic performance for higher alcohol synthesis from syngas was investigated. The active components has a high dispersion on the clay support surface. The increase of the Mo loading promoted reduction of Mo6+ but had no significant influence on the reduction of Mo4+ and Co2+ species. After reduction, a kind of lower state Moδ+ (1<δ<4) species was observed on the surface. Compared with the unsupported catalyst, the clay supported K-Co-Mo catalysts showed much higher catalytic performance for alcohol formation. The reason can be explained that the supported catalyst have a high active surface area and the mesoporous structure prolonged the residence time of intermediates for alcohol formation to some extent...